RIDDLE OF THE CHAPTER: What is a shark's favorite game?
After Hanzala and I have bonded a little, we hear the announcement calling everyone to lunch, at 9, in the night. Surprisingly, it's the most normal thing I've heard all day. We walk together to the 'lunch' room laughing all the way. Atleast he's funny.
"Nice to see you getting along so well," says a familiar voice. We turn to see Riaaz, standing against the gym doorframe, no doubt about what he's doing there. He lights a cigarette and takes a long drag.
"You shouldn't smoke," I say. "It's bad for your health and you can get cancer, also it's a horrible habit, in general." I scrunch up my nose as the horrible smoky smell already reaches my nostrils, I step behind Hanzala and cover my nose. I can hear Hanzala chuckling in front of me, I don't see what's so funny.
"Finally, someone told you or rather showed you how horrible your habit is," he tells Riaaz. Riaaz just grunts, stubs out the cigarette, and walks off down the corridor, probably going to brush his teeth.
"What's his deal?" I ask Hanzala when Riaaz is out of earshot.
"He's just a pain in the behind, intent on irritating the hell out of people he doesn't know," Hanzala answers. He sees my irritated expression and quickly says, "he's not that bad! You'll see, he's quite cool when you get to know him."
I highly doubted it, but I let it drop, mainly because I was having a lot of fun with Hanzala and I wasn't prepared to let Riaaz ruin it for me. I'm about to ask something else when he says, "don't let him get to you, if he irritates you, just tell his wife. She'll sort him out." He winks at me and takes my hand, swinging it as we walk down the corridor. By the time we reach the lunch room, I've forgotten we even met Riaaz on the way.
We sit down at the end of a mildly occupied table. From the moment we walked into the room, we've been bombarded with "congratulations" and well-wishing on our impromptu marriage. I barely even get to see the lunch room, just a few glimpses. I see the hugest coffee machine ever in one corner and a huge stack of bibs and cutlery in the other with a sign marked old dishes on top, even though they look really new, my eyes widen as, at the next moment the floor opens and the whole stack falls through. I've just managed to get into my seat in one piece when Yasmin spots me from across the room and runs over.
"Hey!" She says, smiling brightly. "How are you doing? How's the head?"
I'd forgotten about the bump, but now that she mentioned it, it started to pain again.
"What's wrong with your head? Hanzala asks.
"I whacked her with a frying pan this morning," Yasmin says and I can see Hanzala's eyes widen.
"Don't worry!" I tell him, I can barely feel it, I touch the spot softly to show him where it is.
"Is that what it is?" His asks with a slight laugh. "I thought it was one of those camel hump hijabs that's so popoular with the girls nowadays."
"Oh, hell no!" I say, "no way in hell would I wear that! It makes them look like they have a mega mind! And not in the smart sense."
"I know, right?" Hanzala says back. "I've told them before, but they don't listen."
"Uhum," Yasmin says clearing her throat, I'd forgotten that she was there. "I'm still here, you know."
"Sorry Yas," I say. "Have a seat." I motion for her to sit on an empty seat and she sits down.
The lunch room doors swing open and hundreds of plates swirl into the room, all steaming hot and all flying at a speed that would slice a watermelon. They swirl around the room and settle on the tables. My mouth drops open. I look around the roomand realise how many people there actually are here. There's men, women, kids, all races, or so it seems. There's Indian, African, Caucasian, Jamaican, Arab, Chinese and the list goes on. They were all smiling as their plates landed at their tables. They waved as they caught me staring. I smiled and waved back.
"Overwhelming, huh?" Yasmin asks, while buttering a slice of bread.
"Definitely," I say. "I can't believe there's so many people here!"
"Hmm," she mumbles, her mouth full. "Don't you worry, you'll get used to it soon enough." It seems I need to get used to a lot of things.
"Your food's going to get cold," Hanzala says handing me a piece of buttered toast. I smile at him, take the toast and start eating. Normal food this time, thankfully. Toast, mince and a cup of coffee. I bite into the toast and curse. Blueberry pie. I'm almost 100% sure that the butter tastes like cream. Yasmin laughs and tells me to try the mince. I'm almost afraid to.
Oh well, at least their food tastes good.
ANSWER: Swallow the leader!
