THE TALE OF SARAH

Chapter Sixteen

Umm Hakeem was now to execute her plan to take Sarah to the hospital, since Munirah didn't want to believe. Today, Thursday morning, she had ordered Sarah to get ready before she finished cooking. Now, they were all set to go. They started walking towards the gate, when they heard Munirah's loud voice.

"Where are you off to?" She yelled from where she was standing, in front of the main building.

Umm Hakeem was trying to keep her cool, so she inhaled and turned around, then walked up to Munirah with Sarah by her side.

Once there, she spoke with her eyes full of confidence, boring into Munirah's. "I'm taking her to the hospital."

Munirah narrowed her eyes. "For what?"

"I told you, she was raped. And since then she hasn't gone for a checkup or anything. The least we know is that she's pregnant. We only found out-"

"You're not going anywhere. Get back into the quarters." Munirah said bluntly.

"I'm taking her to the hospital, its what a responsible elderly should do."

Munirah scoffed here. "You're calling me irresponsible?"

"I didn't-"

"Look here," she pointed a finger at them, "Maybe you've forgotten, but Sarah's my worker, and I'm in charge of her matters." She turned in Sarah's direction. "Or Sarah, will you love to resign?" She asked the evil question, wearing an evil smirk. She was really dangerous.

"No." Sarah replied with a low tuned cracking voice.

"Good. Now, get back in and do your work. You haven't even done that in days." She put emphasis on the last word. "As for you Umm Hakeem, get your ass out of what's not your business, or resign." With that, she spun around and walked into the building leaving behind an angry Umm Hakeem, and a helpless Sarah.

***********

Fifteen minutes later, Sarah entered the main building, wearing a flower printed skirt and a black top, her head covered with a pashmina. She had gone back to the quarters to change into more comfortable clothes, and told Yusra that she and Fa'iza shouldn't bother to clean.

She walked further into the living room and spotted Munirah sitting cross legged on a sofa, sipping coffee while alternating between watching the news and reading a newspaper. She lowered her head and walked to the kitchen where the cleaning tools were. She picked the broom and dustpan that had long sticks attached to them to avoid stressing her back, so the pain wouldn't be much.

She walked out of the kitchen, through the dinning and hallway back to the living room. She noticed from her peripheral vision, that Munirah glared at her occasionally. She went to the corner that she usually started from and began.

"Why aren't you using a stickless broom?" Munirah asked with a stern voice.

"I- Uh- Because I don't want to stress my back." Sarah replied, intimidated. It didn't matter what kind of broom she used, what mattered was making sure she did her job well.

Munirah sneered. "What's wrong with your back? Use the stickless broom." She ordered, not caring a bit about the aftermath.

Sarah's face fell. She sighed and went to change the broom. She came back to living room and began sweeping, bracing herself for the pain that was to come after.

***********

When she finished cleaning the ground floor, her back was throbbing. She was trying her best not to yell in pain. Munirah didn't seem to care about her. She went to the kitchen, gathered some snacks on a tray, then prepared to go up the stairs to the rooms to stock the mini fridges.