BROKEN

Hakeem's Poems

"What's going on?" my father asked with wide eyes. Nobody answered him for a few moments.

"That's her dad." Tasneem mouthed to Ahmed and Hakeem.

"I'm really sorry this was all my fault I wasn't paying attention to the road, how bad is the damage?" Hakeem nervously asked as he looked at the bumper of my dad's car.

"I'm more concerned with what my daughter is doing with two strange boys." my father said angrily.

"Aabo we just went out to eat." I replied. I wanted to explain how Hakeem was Hawo's son and that my mom would probably be okay with us going out to eat but I figured he wouldn't understand.

"I don't care what you were doing. Who are your parents?" he asked Hakeem.

"Hawo Mohamed." he responded quietly.

"That's your mother?" he asked.

"Yes." My father put his hands on his face. He looked so tired and stressed.

"Warsan, come with me." my father said. We walked to a grassy area on the side of the road.

"You know how I feel about boys." he said.

"Yeah I know but it wasn't even like that. His mom went with hooyo, ayeeyo, and Aunt Nadira and we got hungry so we went to grab something to eat."

"This isn't the company you want to keep around." he whispered.

"Aabo what are you talking about?" I asked.

"That boy's name is Hakeem right?" he asked, pointing at Hakeem.

"Yeah, why?"

"Stay far away from him. That's all I'm going to tell you." I looked at him confused and then looked at Hakeem. He was staring back, he must have known we were talking about him. I looked back at my dad he had his cell phone up to his ear. He called my mom and told her what happened. While he was distracted I took the opportunity to go and talk to Hakeem, Ahmed, and Tasneem.

"Is it bad?" I asked.

"Not really, my mom's car is more damaged than your dad's. Sorry if I got you in trouble by the way." he said.

"Don't worry about me I don't think my mom will be too upset." I shrugged.

"Is he calling the police?" asked Ahmed.

"No he's calling my mom." A few moments later Aunt Nadira's car pulled up on the side of the road. Hawo immediately jumped out and ran to Hakeem and hugged him.

"Are you hurt? Does anything hurt? Do we need to go to the hospital?" she asked.

"No hooyo I'm fine but there is a dent in the front of your car."

"I don't care about the stupid car! Do you know how scared I got when I heard you guys got in an accident?" she looked around at all of us. "Are you all okay?"

"Yeah we're fine." we all said. I looked over at where my father was standing. My mother, Aunt Nadira, and ayeeyo were crowded around him. I remembered that this was the first time they had seen him since the news. I walked over to my mom.

"Are you okay baby?" she asked. I nodded my head.

"Is this what you're doing with my daughter? Allowing her to spend time with boys like that?" he looked over at Hakeem.

"Oh shut up Liban, don't judge the boy like you know him." my mother responded.

"You are in no position to judge anybody." said Aunt Nadira. "Hakeem is a nice boy."