After yesterday's long night, Haider had gone upstairs to the room he had booked back when he was planning the whole trip.
He slept like a brick, as per usual.
After waking up and taking a quick shower, he got the chance of wearing back his breathable clothes. A pair of khakis and a full-sleeved brown t-shirt. He shoved all of his stuff in a bag. Threw it in the backseat of his car and drove. Instead of going straight to the highway, he turned towards Iqbal Colony.
The streets got narrower as he drew closer to his destination. Until he reached to an edge of a really small street.
The street was cleaner than yesterday but still littered with dirt. At least it had been watered. A vegetable seller was pushing his cart down the street. While chanting loudly, marketing his products. A pawn shop was settled in a corner. Haider knew it's owner from childhood so he stood the for a little while to make some small talks with the old owner.
"Hey big man, seems like you've become too important for your old neighbors, eh?" the owner said the moment Haider stopped.
Haider smiled, shaking his head. "I can never be too important or busy to give you guys time. I just came back after a long while to Lahore, yesterday I was busy in a fundraiser but decided to spend today here. With old memories." He smiled.
"You were here yesterday too, though." The old guy wasn't about to be brought that easily. Haider squirmed.
"Only for a few seconds, to gather some blessings from Yasmeen bibi. Yesterday was a big day for me. Otherwise, I would never leave without meeting my first confidante." He winked. The old guy suddenly got uncomfortable, he was the one who had persuaded Haider to smoke. When Haider's father found out, things had turned ugly.
They didn't talk much afterward, Haider greeted a couple of more peoples and walked to the small house, with faded blue wooden gate.
The view inside was same as yesterday. Small lawn, a battered char-pai. Yasmeen bibi sitting on it, Quran was opened in front of her, situated on top of a pillow. She was reciting it.
Haider greeted her and sat down cross-legged on the quilt. She just nodded, without answering and kept reciting. She finished after a few minutes, raising both of her hands towards the sky, she made dua and then closed the Quran.
When she turned to him, her face was fresh and smiling. She was always happy after recitation. Also after seeing him. Thus she didn't felt as old as she usually did at the moment.
"How did yesterday's event go?" she said softly, today she was wearing a pale yellow woolen dress, her pallor was looking radiant in this color.
"Both good and bad," Haider said, sighing.
Her features softened even more with concern. "Why bad?"
Haider shrugged. "I raised quite some funds. Consider all the expenses covered for now. But still, the female staff..." he shook his head.
"Allah will make a way for you. Don't think too much about it." She brushed the problem just like that. Haider grumbled but didn't say anything. "You must be hungry, I have made potatoes, wanna eat?" she said. Haider nodded, smiling tightly.
Yasmeen bibi stood up with an effort and walked to a small corner of the yard, which had a stove made of woods and cemented wall of waist height and relatively wide wall built around it. That was her kitchen. She sat on the small stool at front of the stove. She could easily talk with him while baking some bread in a natural oven known as tandoor.
Haider talked with her for a while, then excused himself to go to the mosque.
The time he came out on the street, he called Dr.Irfan. He had received a text earlier from Dr.Irfan which he hadn't had time to look at before. It only said; "Call me back, have a good news to share."
Now while talking with Yasmeen bibi, he had read this text. The good news was something he fancied hearing while he was feeling so depressed. The bell rang for only several seconds before the Doctor picked it up.
"Hey young fella, what took you so long to answer my phone?" His excited voice came which he was trying to conceal with anger.
"Hadn't looked at the phone. When I saw it, I called you right away. Besides, why in the world would I delay a chance to hear good news anyway?" Haider said, grinning. Strolling while looking at the sky. It was his idea of multi-tasking, relaxing all out.
"Yeah, that much I do know about you. Now get ready for the good news. We have finally gotten our lady doctor." Haider stopped. Turning all his attention to his ears.
"What? But... how? I was looking for such a long time. No girl ever agreed to live there alone. We found our nurses with such a pain. How come you persuaded a doctor?" Haider stammered, he was too excited to talk coherently. He had stopped walking.
"Call it a miracle. She is not from around here. Came to Skardu for her own reasons, must be wanting to conquer the mountain. But wanted to have a job in the meantime." Dr.Irfan said.
"Oh, a temporary then?" Haider deflated.
"Yes, temporarily a temporary. But I think she will stay for the long run. Call it a gut feeling." Dr.Irfan wasn't disappointed.
"Hope you are right." Haider nodded and began strolling again.
"But there is a slight problem," Dr.Irfan said cheekily. Haider stopped again.
"And that is..." Haider asked, worry creeping up on his voice. He knew about the soft corner in Dr.Irfan's heart, he could make any mistake just to not disappoint someone.
"She has an amazing academic record and has surely lived all her life in England. She has studied at Cambridge. But the problem is..." Dr.Irfan hesitated.
"Listen, if she is demanding more salary than usual, tell her that I don't care a dime even if she is from Cambridge or straight from heaven. There is a salary package all of our doctors get including me, she can't have more than that." Haider started.
"No, she isn't like that. She has suggested herself that she should be given less salary because of the problem I want to share with you." Dr.Irfan stopped again.
"What is it, Doctor. Tell me." Haider tried to make his voice soothing. Although he was boiling inside.
"The thing is, she hasn't done her practice job yet." Dr.Irfan finally said, exhaling as if he was holding his breath.
"What? And you hired her? How could you? Okay, we have a relatively small hospital, but that doesn't mean that we can now compromise on quality. There are lives at stake there and you have hired someone who hasn't worked before?" Haider said, "We can't afford to experiment with a seemingly suitable candidate." Yup, he was mad.
"I will train her myself. I am experienced with training, you know it. You are my own student." Dr.Irfan murmured. He was the professor while Haider was graduating, then had joined hands when Haider talked with him about his plans.
"Okay, and we lose one more manpower to train her?" Haider said.
"Now, why will you lose manpower if I train her while both of us are doing our job? Then I will make her give the practice exam so she receives a license to work here. It all will be over in a breeze." Dr.Irfan had already thought everything through.
"And why do we do all of that? Why not just easily say to her to come back when she has received her license?" Haider did have began to listen, that was a milestone for Irfan.
"Because we don't have a line waiting outside our doors begging to work in here. We are seriously understaffed and she is staying here by her own will. She will work like a maniac to be able to stay here. She has serious to do that." Doctor said.
Haider nodded, stopping in front of that epitome of a building. "Okay, we will see. I have to go now." He deliberately made his voice angry, so Dr.Irfan wouldn't get any false hopes that Haider was agreeing with him.
The chuckle he heard from the other side while disconnecting told him the impression wasn't made.
Dropping the call, he looked at those wide, marble stairs where he had come so often with his father. As much as five times a day. His father was a devoted mosque-goer and had brought up Haider just that way.
Now, in this steady stream of people rushing inside, he realized that it was almost five years he hadn't visited this one himself. This prayer was going to be one to remember.
YOU ARE READING
In the Crevices of Memory
Mystery / Thriller{ranked #17 in cultural] Freshly graduated from med school, and freshly over from her life, Sara Afridi is already defeated. Haunted by the death of her beloved father, and the past that he always had seemed on the edge of telling but never did, she...
