Un-Shattering Happiness: Chapter 3

 

“The rabbit hasn’t been found till now, dad,” reported Nicholas the next morning.

Argon lit his cigar and walked over to the big rectangular glass window.

“This is a small country. If she’s hiding in those pauper girls’ houses, we can easily find that out. After all, she even went to a pauper school.”

“What do you intend to do with her friends?” Nicholas asked cautiously. “Like, if they don’t know or don’t tell you?”

“Not knowing and not telling are two different things, son,” said Argon, turning around, facing Nicholas. “I still haven’t found a new chess teacher for you. So, how about go and look for those addresses?” he ordered.

Nicholas nodded and left the room. He wished he could disobey his father, but he couldn’t leave his mother all by herself. She was already worried sick about Remedios. His father told him to get Remedios’ friends’ addresses. Maybe if he could visit them and let them know in advance…no, his dad would send a search party, and that household would be punished terribly. What if she’s not in any of those houses,” he thought happily. But the happiness lasted a few seconds. He remembered what his sister had said the night she had left. Something about an immortal God and that could be any religion: Christianity, Judaism, Islam. And the girls who had come over in the morning had their heads covered. And he was pretty sure that nuns stayed at the churches. So, Remedios could be staying at the Big Mosque. He also knew that Muslims were very respectful towards women. Whenever a woman would pass, Muslim men would lower their gazes. He sighed. He just wished that wherever Remedios was, she was safe. And if she’s in the mosque, he hoped the men at the mosque would use force to stop even the country’s President from intruding the women’s room.  

 

 

“Wake up, Hawwa! Look at the time! Don’t pull the covers on your face!” Maira marched in the room and opened the curtains. “We have lots to do today! Buy your clothes, scarves, an abaya, and do groceries. So, wake-up!” with that, she left the room, closing the door softly behind her, the sunlight taking over darkness.

Hawwa lay in bed for a few minutes and then courageously removed the covers off of her face. She rubbed her eyes and sat up in bed. The room was smaller compared to the one she had previously stayed at, back in Zephania. This one had off white…thermocol walls? She looked around; the room was carpeted entirely. There was a wooden table next to her bed, which had two drawers, two handles each. She opened the drawers out of curiosity; they were empty. She got off the bed and checked out the wooden closets. They were empty too. It felt like Maira had known she would be coming back with someone. Or maybe her men prepared everything in advance. There was a dressing table too, which had a rectangular mirror that had heart stickers on its borders. Cute, she thought. There was only one window in the room, a tall, rectangular window in front of the three closets.  She stood by the window. There wasn’t much to see. A lonely green tree stood on a corner. A building of the same level as the house she was staying at stood in front of her room. There was sand everywhere, and it was sunny. She could feel the heat through the glass. She stepped out of her room and saw a room to her left, a room, and a bathroom next to her. Hawwa freshened up and then made her way downstairs. The staircase was next to her room.

“What would you like to have with bread, Hawwa?” asked Maira as soon as she heard Hawwa coming downstairs.

The entire house was carpeted except the bathrooms and the kitchen.

“What do we have?” she asked, opening the fridge. Then, without waiting for an answer, she said, “Jam’s fine.”

“Please set the table Hawwa.”

“Okay!”

There was a round table in the middle of the kitchen. The kitchen was to the right of the stairs.

“Wouldn’t it be better to move the table to the left? You know, to make more space to move around?” she wondered aloud.

“Hmmm…okay then, move it to the wall. Just push it. And then set the table,” replied Maira, smiling and frying the fair and square bread pieces.

Hawwa pushed the round wooden table to the wall.

“The plates are in the cupboard…that one, next to the table…yeah, open the large one on the bottom to your left.”

She opened the cupboard and took out two white plates.

“The cups are in that cabinet,” said Maira, pointing at the cabinet above the long counter next to the sink. The sink was diagonally opposite to where the door was.

The rectangular counter continued in an L-shape to its right. A refrigerator stood firmly next to it.

“We should decorate the kitchen with plants and pictures,” Hawwa spoke her mind as she put the two white cups on the table. The white cups had three different colored stripes painted on them.

Maira put two pieces of golden bread pieces for Hawwa and two for herself. She took a jar of strawberry jam and a jar of mango jam out of the fridge and put them on the table. Next, she took out a bottle of milk.

“Cold or warm?” she asked.

“Cold.”

“Okay, then microwave only for one!”

Hawwa smiled and put the cup in the black microwave, setting it to one minute. She wondered what would be going on at home. Why does Father want me to return after telling me to leave? Why? It didn’t make sense at all. Did he think I was joking about ‘converting’ myself into ‘human’? The teet teet of the microwave drove her back to reality.

“Why such a depressed face? Miss your family?” asked Maira as Hawwa put the cup of milk on the table.

“Kind of,” she said, sitting down.

“Do you regret it?”

She shook her head. “Never have I ever regretted anything in my life.”

“Honey, you are only sixteen. There is a lot more to come. And a lot more to learn.”

“Fifteen… I’m fifteen,” she corrected her.

“When’s your birthday?” Maira asked, cutting the bread pieces into further smaller pieces.

“9^th of December, 1999.”

“Well, there you go. It’s in 3 months and 16 days,” Maira grinned.

 

An hour had passed, and Hawwa was still nibbling on the bread.

“You eat so slow, Hawwa. Do you have a toothache?” Maira asked, concerned.

“No. I just eat slow,” replied Hawwa, looking tired.

Eating food made her tired and bored. Eating food wasn’t exciting at all. She preferred to eat food slowly so she could think of other things like fairies and glitters…

“In that case, you’ll need to wait until Friday. My cooking will make you eat faster,” she winked.

“You are forgetting that I come from a household where the chefs are known as master chefs,” Hawwa laughed.

“You are forgetting that you are in my house now, and you would be eating something that’s made out of love for you. No certificates. No jobs. Just love,” replied Maira, her voice soft and motherly.

Suddenly, Hawwa started to miss Nicholas. He was the closest she had, closer than her mum and dad. He had always been there for her whenever she had felt down. But now…now she left him.

“You are making that face again,” said Maira, worried. She took Hawwa in her arms and hugged her. “Things will be alright. Just believe and trust in yourself.”

Hawwa nodded, tears surfacing her eyes.

 

 

Nicholas went to Remedios’ school, but the school wouldn’t reveal addresses at any cost.

“I am Nicholas Argon. I’m looking for my sister. This is an order from Argon Pothemus. Give me the addresses of Bushra Khayyam, Shehnaz Teymur, Farah Qadir, Sajdah Ali, Noor Abid, and Faiqa Lahiri,” he spoke firmly.

“I am sorry, sir. The Ministry of Education does not permit us to give away addresses like this,” replied the lady at the counter, her hair tied in a bun.

“This is an order from the President,” his voice, almost like a whisper, his eyes narrowing.

The lady shook her head.

“You do know the consequences of disobeying, don’t you?” he thundered.

“Yes,” she smiled. “But privacy rights and laws are part of this country. Some laws just don’t get broken so easily.”

Nicholas sighed heavily. If the school doesn’t give him the addresses, his father might force out of them.

“Keep the addresses somewhere safe in case the President turns up,” he said in a low tone. “If Remedios turns up at school anytime, I request you to keep her safe.”

The lady looked at him, totally confused. First, this boy threatens her, and then the next second, he requests her. So, the bounty is real, she concluded. But why did her brother ask me to keep her safe? She saw Nicholas exiting the building through the sliding glass doors. She sat down on the chair heavily and wheeled over to the PC. She logged on and clicked open the school’s database. Keep the addresses safe? How about I delete them? She typed the names of the students Nicholas had said and then deleted all their records from the databases. Securing their information would be too risky. She wasn’t sure how she would hide Remedios, though. Deleting addresses and deleting people are two different things. Fingers crossed, she hoped Remedios didn’t return, at least for now.

 

              “So, have you been to shopping malls? Zephania hasn’t got any big or fancy malls,” started Maira, pressing her right foot on the accelerator.

“I have been to one in Pakistan and a few in Saudi Arabia,” Hawwa replied, looking at the sandy mountains to her window side on her right. “Where did we get the car? It wasn’t here this morning,” she asked in wonder. Who is this lady? What is she? Everything about her was so old. Well, for now, the transportations. A Kinner Airster Biplane, a 1932 Plymouth, and now this…this… she tried to remember the thick silver words etched at the bumper of the car.

“My men drove it here this morning,” replied Maira.

My men, again, thought Hawwa. Her men? What is she? Her men? It just doesn’t make sense. If she has…if she can have men, why is she living here on campus? Shouldn’t she be living in a mansion or something bigger of her own?

“Your men?” she asked cautiously.

“Yes, my men,” replied Maira, her tone neutral.

Silence followed after her reply. The silence was almost deafening.

“I am sorry. I didn’t mean to peek in your privacy,” said Hawwa, feeling guilty.

Maira glanced at Hawwa. “I’ll tell you someday. Or you might even find it out yourself.”

She parked her old looking car in an empty lot, near the sliding doors of the mall. Hawwa got off the car. She was wearing a different outfit than yesterday, a light blue maxi, which had white flowery lace on its borders. She wore a white triangular scarf. Maira had styled her scarf in a Turkish fashion. Hawwa wore a pair of light blue sandals with the dress. She looked like a doll! As for Maira, she wore the same as usual. Black overalls.

Sports cars were banned in Zephania, so Hawwa was surprised to see so many sports cars parked side by side. But the car she took a ride in was different. A 1960 Cadillac. A classic just like the 1932 Plymouth. Maybe Maira liked collecting old classic cars. A side hobby.

The two girls shopped and shopped and shopped. They visited ZARA and brought a couple of long skirts. MARKS & SPENCERS didn’t suit their taste and was too expensive as well. The shirts at H&M were cute, so they bought some matching ones with the skirts they had bought. After H&M, the two did some jewelry shopping from MAX and Lovita. Then, they shopped for footwear, which took a lot of time.

“Wow, Hushpuppies has a 60% off sale!” said Maira, excitedly.

What’s so great about Hushpuppies, thought Hawwa. All her clothes, accessories, and footwear were custom made, so all these brands didn’t really affect her as it did to ordinary people.

“It’s one of the best footwear brands. The footwear is soft and comfortable. Top class,” said Maira, admiring.

Hawwa chose a pair of purple sandals. The sandal had a low heel. Maira got herself a pair of black heels for office wear. Hawwa thought that was all, but-

“Let’s go to sketchers next!” said Maira excitedly.

So, they walked to sketchers, which was a few shops right to Hushpuppies.

“It’s good to have a pair of sports shoes,” said Maira as they entered the shop.

After buying two pairs of sports shoes, black and purple, the two went to Call it Spring to get some party wear. But Hawwa didn’t like them because they were too bland.

“Oh, I know a great place which might suit your taste!” said Maira and raced the trolley to the far end of the second floor of the mall.

“Ella,” Hawwa read the name. It sounded magical and enchanted.

The sandals, the heels, the vegies were all so elegant and glittery. Seeing her interest, Maira got Hawwa, a pair of black wedges, and two pairs of silver and brown heels. Hawwa was delighted.

 

“Ah, it’s almost 2,” said Maira, pushing the trolley. “Let’s pray first and then check out abayas.”

Pray? Hawwa didn’t know how to pray! She didn’t want to embarrass herself in front of so many people. But then she remembered the night she had left home and relaxed.

Maira wheeled the trolley and stopped it next to the ladies’ prayer room. She took out her phone – an old silver flip phone – and dialed a number. Hawwa only understood the greeting part Assalam-u-Alaikum; the rest was alien.  Maybe Maira’s mother-tongue. It seemed like she was giving orders. Maira ended the call with Ma’asalam and put the phone in the front pocket of her – thank God – modern bag.

“My men will come and get these things. Come on, we are getting late,” she said, heading to the ablution area.

Hawwa wished she could stand in the doorway and see who those men were. She shook her head and turned her back to the trolley. It was too early to be poking around other people’s business even if they spent a lot of money on her.

Today, I’ll teach you how to do wudhu. Wudhu means ablution. It’s essential to do wudhu before every prayer. Now, remember the procedure, alright?”

Hawwa nodded. Yes, yes, yes! I am finally learning new stuff!

Maira showed her and taught her the steps of doing wudhu. She then taught her how to pray, reciting her own prayer aloud so Hawwa could follow the procedure.

“You have done a good job today. You are a fast learner. We will soon start by memorizing Qura’an little by little so you can have some material to recite in your prayer,” she encouraged Hawwa as the two exited the prayer room. “Ahh… they took the trolley as well… oh well, are you hungry? What do you want to eat?”

“Uhmm… I’m not sure…” replied Hawwa, tapping her right index finger on her lips.

“Have you ever tried fast food?”

“Food at our house was always cooked on time… I’m not sure about fast though,” she replied with a confused look on her face.

Maira burst into laughing. “Oh, Hawwa. You really are an interesting human.”

Interesting human? Human? Hawwa smiled secretly. And you are an interesting species, she murmured.

“I heard that!” said Maira, still laughing. “Seriously, though. You have. Never. Tried. A burger? A pizza? Come on, nuggets?”

Hawwa shook her head.

“That’s a really outdated set of master-chefs you’ve got back home.”

Outdated? Maira was more outdated than anyone Hawwa had met till now!

Author's Notes: Thank you for reading this chapter. Please give feedback on it. 

Will Nicholas be able to keep this 'secret' from his father? Hawwa, who has never tried fast food, will she enjoy it? Find out in the next chapter!