THE TALE OF SARAH

Chapter Three

Dedicated to sweetDoodles and WhiteRope.

Ten minutes later, Sarah had filled up her tommy. 'At least I've tried.', she thought to herself. Indeed she had tried. She had eaten more than three quarter of her rice and taken some of the chicken pepper soup. But unfortunately, she didn't have space for anything called dessert. She said the dua'a for completing the process of eating and tried to make the trays look neat. Just when she covered the cupcakes, Munirah entered the room.

"Ah my dear I can see you've finished eating."

"Yes."

"Did you finish your food?" She questioned as she came forward to check the trays. "You tried, as you adjust to this environment, so will you adjust to the amount of food."

"Isha'a Allah."

"Isha'a Allah. So are you ready to meet your fellow workers?"

"Yes I am."

"Come my dear." Munirah extended her hand for Sarah to hold onto. She led her to the common room they had passed through while they were heading to the dining.

*******

Seated on opposite sides were seven males and six females. Sarah figured she was the seventh female. They were all within the of age of adolescence and adulthood.

Munirah initiated the introduction. "Salaam alaykum everyone."

"Wa'alaykumus salaam." Everyone else including Sarah replied.

"So we have a new worker to replace Saliha who resigned this morning as she got employed for a better work. This is Sarah," she pulled Sarah to her side and put her arms around her shoulder, "and she is going to be one of you."

"Sarah," Munirah turned them to the left where the males were seated. "this is Adam, Saleh....." She introduced the males which after she mentioned what they did. Sarah just said salam to each of them as she tried to catch up with Munirah. It looked like Munirah had memorized a script for this scene. It appeared that four of them were gardeners, while the rest cleaned the compound's premises.

Then she introduced the females. "This is Umm Hakeem," she said gesturing towards her, "she's the one that served your main dish. She's the chief cook and that is Yusra, one of the assistant cooks, she's the one who served your dessert, and also cleans the first floor of the main building. You guys will get along the best because she'll also be your roommate."

"Oh, okay. Salaam alaykum."

"Wa'alaykumus salaam." They replied in unison.

"That is Fa'iza, she cleans the second floor,..." She kept explaining till she was done with everyone. It appeared that the females took care cleaning the inner and outer parts of the buildings as well as cooking and serving dishes.

"Does anyone have anything to say?" Munirah asked after the intro.

"You're welcome to joining us Sarah." Umm Hakeem stated.

"Yes." Everyone said

"Sarah do you have anything to say?"

"Thank you all. I'm very happy to be part of you." She said with a cracking voice, tears almost falling off her eyes. Finally she found somewhere she could call her own. She found people could she could identify herself with.

"Its okay my dear." Umm Hakeem said as she sensed her situation.

"Yeah its okay." Munirah said as she as she pulled her into a motherly hug.