The Mechanic's Wife (Preview)

CHAPTER 7: MEETING 'THE MECHANIC.'

"Stop that Ahmad."

"Why?" His question got stuck after he received a stern look from her. "But you promised to let me go this time around."

"Yes I know, and I will do that at my convenience if you insist on talking about it after every five minutes, I don't think that idea will appeal to me again."

Now that was enough to shut him up because he saw no reason why a silly mistake on his side would cost him his only chance of going on a trip of a lifetime.

Yes, he knew, to many people traveling to Kano might just be a routine, or might be like going home, but to him traveling to Kano was life. Because life awaited him there. His life was joined with Kano since birth and that was why every time someone denied him access to the town he felt cheated and unloved. If you loved Ahmad you've got to love Kano, and why so much love for a singleton town in the whole of the world? Because his future lay there.

Because of a single soul, a soul he loved before it got conceived.

"Mamma, can I relocate?"

Hajiya Maryam turned completely towards her son, leaving the book she was reading lying opened on her nightstand.

"What have I done to deserve such from you Ahmad? Is it only your Ammie you love? What of me?"

He quickly rushed to her feet kneeling down in front of her. "Wallahil azeem there is no soul I adore greater than yours after the Prophet SAW. You mean the world to me, but Mamma Ammie is part of me also I need to go. Please let me go."

Hajiya Maryam's eyes teared up at that, "Oh Ya Allah, the proportioner of love in the chests of His slaves, Ya Allah bless the love in this child. May he keep spreading it across the world. May Allah bless you, Ahmad. You can go to Ammie, anytime you wish, just don't let it interfere with your studies."

"In sha Allah. Thank you, Mamma, you are the best." He pulled her into a hug, ecstatic that his wish had been granted.

He felt like the happiest man on earth.

From his mother's room, Ahmad stopped only in his room to pack what he needed. He was over the moon.

"Why are you so happy?" Faruk, his younger brother asked him when he kept going and coming from his wardrobe to the box he kept on their twin bed.

"Why won't I be happy? Mamma has finally agreed!" He said. holding his brother in a strong grip, the latter being as thin as a koboko whip felt strangled. He swung him in the room and together they spun till they were both dizzy.

"Please don't kill me before you go," Faruk said, breathlessly.

"Won't you come along?"

"No, I will stay with Mamma she is not feeling good at all."

"Okay as you wish, I will stay there until I got my admission letter. I might even stay there forever."

His brother gave him an incredulous look, "Yeah. Good luck with that. My regards to Na'im."

"Look at you, who said I was leaving now?"

"I might as well bid you now, because I know I will wake up to an empty bed in the morning, you will be long gone before my eyes get the first glimpse of light."

His brother was right, he would be up before anyone in the house. He was that excited, he couldn't wait to meet Ammie and the new guest.

At sixteen one might think he would be moody, behaving like most regular teenagers, but Ahmad was the total opposite of that, with his carefree spirit and heart filled with love. He won hearts wherever he was.