Nilefa: The Union

CHAPTER 30

It was the last Friday of the month and the fast that day was especially hard. Yasmeen laid on her bed, staring at the boxes she'd received earlier, which contained the items she had listed she wanted for Eid. She would be eager to open the boxes to see what the usual Eid surprise was, but it was going to be a terrible Eid anyway, her parents being away. Her stomach had started to rumble already, and it was only 11:04. Kolo's little tip had proven ineffective; the one where she told her that warm water taken for suhoor prevented one from thirst for the rest of the day. She had done just that, but here she was, a weakling unable to move a finger.
She inhaled slowly, as if doing so would help her save some energy for later.

Kolo and herself would be preparing denderu for Eid day.  That dish had always been a mystery to her. It required even heating for two mornings to make. She'd heard of the Royal denderu, which was said to last in a pot buried in the ground for months, without perishing. Her mother had often said, 'the presence of a Kanuri woman signifies good food '. Would that ever apply to her? She always asked Kolo or Sadiq to taste her food, because Amir was too nice to tell her if the food tasted bad. Of course Sadiq always complained that the food was too spicy, and Kolo kept a straight face and looked away from her as she processed the appropriate feedback. Aunt Hauwa's comments didn't matter either, they were no better than Amir's, and her father hardly ever ate with them. He would return late in the night and aunt Hauwa would prepare something light for him to eat. Things her mother would lose her mind before serving them to her father. Aishe pegged her father for choosy, when it was actually her attribute. He had never asked for matching utensils or uniform slices of cucumber or warm water to wash his hands or high protein diet on Friday! And she expected her to learn it all so she could do same for her husband, but no. The only woman that could be Aishe was Aishe alone.

Yasmeen's phone rang, drawing her out of her train of thoughts. It was Baby.

" Assalamualaikum" Baby sang.

" Wa alaikum salam. What's up babe?" Yasmeen cringed at her own sounding.

" Yaa Yasmeen, how are..-"

" Baby please call me by my name alone"

Baby giggled on the other side of the phone." You think I can stop? I cannot call my elder brother's wife by her name. "

"Now you are being ridiculous." Yasmeen rolled her eyes. Baby had taken it upon herself to add a title to Yasmeen's name. On the day of the feast, she'd gone round calling her tiu ( sister in-law). It was after a lot of pleading that she'd settled for Yaa. The amusing part was that baby wasn't doing it to tease her. She was seriously refraining from  calling her by her name any longer. What an upbringing, she'd thought.

" So you'd say. Just wait until the knot is tied. Being called Yasmeen would only be part of your memory."

Baby was right. Only her aunt Ruwaya called her mother by her name. Most of her father's relatives called her yanyi( my mother) or tiu nyi.

" To what do I owe the pleasure? I know you wouldn't be off the phone with your darling Ali to call me unless it's something important."

" Is that what you'd say? We barely speak these days."

" Barely, Is that what you call 9 hours a day?"

" I miss those days Yaa Yasmeen." Baby sounded sad. " He says I must study longer, so I can pass my certificate exams."

" I agree with him." With that, Yasmeen knew whatever baby called to tell her would be waiting for the 'Ali talk' to be over. The only problem Baby ever had with Ali was his obsession with school, she'd told Yasmeen. Ali had made Baby read books he'd enjoyed reading. Baby hated to read, but she did anyway.

Just before the call ended, Baby told Yasmeen she would be coming to see her later in the evening. Then, Yasmeen, tired from holding the phone against her ear and had turned the speaker on. Her stomach rumbled again having her vowing to herself not to depend on water for suhoor ever again.

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Halima confronted Abdulsalam about his relationship with Khadija. He had hardly spoken of her lately and he appeared to be satisfied with Bashir's choice for him. When would Bashir let her son be? He had always done better than her at parenting that Abdulsalam looked up to him as if he were his real father. It was satisfying that her son never missed a father, Bashir made sure he never did. But it didn't sit well with her how he made better decisions when it came to Abdulsalam, than her. When Abdulsalam was born, it was his idea to name the baby after its dead Father. She wished she were the one to suggest that first, but she hadn't even thought of it to start with. Why did Bashir despite his being a spiteful person, not make all the bad decisions?

Now her son was going to marry a girl he had chosen, in her niece's stead, while all she could do was go against it without any working strategy. She had to act quickly. She knew her son was no longer into Kubra, but it didn't matter. It wasn't about him anymore, it was about her pride, and this time she was going to save it.

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She looked skinnier than he remembered. The last time he saw her, her nose weren't as pointed and her chin wasn't as sharp as it looked now, sitting across from him. It was obvious she had lost some weight to the fasting, even the big heavy veil couldn't hide it. He watched as she struggled to keep it in place over her shoulder, but it only ended up slipping. It wasn't a new feeling, having the familiar rush of some strange energy, seeing her like this, sitting mere feet from him. Only this time, it was in a smaller room with no one loitering.

" Take it off."

Immersed in the task at hand, she didn't seem to capture his words at first, until a second later.

" Pardon?" She uttered, caught between giving him a large glare and keeping the big stoney veil from falling.

" Take it off. It most certainly is weighing you down."

" I can handle this. What's with the surprise visit?"

" You are barely attentive with this monstrosity smothering you." He said gesturing at the veil with a hint of jest in his voice.

Having enough, Yasmeen tucked the ends of the veil under her arm finally  in such a way that her neck was visible. He was right, the veil was heavily embroidered, stone embedded, and given that she had lost some weight, she probably looked small having it on. Why did she listen to Kolo to start with? She could have ignored her and taken a lighter veil, but her point about her being too skinny, did influence her choice. Most of her clothes were big on her and her clavicles were quite defined almost to the point one could see where they met her shoulder joints.

"You look so much smaller. Is it the Ramadan or you just missed seeing me so much? "

" I do not miss you."

" So it's the fasting.."

" Since when are you a pryer?"

" Given my profession, it is almost what I get paid for. In your case, it calls for concern when my betrothed appears to be shrinking into thin air."