When A Soldier Loves

1: Eid Durbar

The sky was filled with invisible sparks of joy. The air carried around the sounds of laughter to places that it hadn't reached, the mornings of Eid had always been one to remember. From the way the morning started, the ambience that was filled with sheer joy and happiness. The endless smiles and love shared between muslims, and how everyone got glam in his or her best attire for the next two days to come was something she had always looked up to in Eid. And yes, the delicious food included.

But for this Eid, she was a little less excited and a part of her heart was also overjoyed. She looked up at the sky and saw the stars hanging even though it was a morning sky, so blue that she wondered if she could reach it, touch it, nothing could stop her hand from staining this perfection of color. It was Eid-ul-Adha, yet Baaba said he had no means to make the sacrifice that was known to be made. She wanted to eat the meat, to roam around the house-even though unnoticed-as Intisar took care of the meat while she helped her panned the woods when she felt like it.

But he said he had no money, and Intisar seemed to be okay with it, elated even. And she asked if him they could go to the Eid ground to watch the Durbar show, and he gladly agreed. Maybe that was his way of getting them off the disappointment of not being able to make their sacrifice this Eid. She was happy to go to the Eid ground for the first time in her life, even though a bit anxious, knowing so well she would be bullied by the girls there.

She heard the chuckles of young girls that would probably be her age as they ran around their house, probably rushing to go so they could get the front row in the durbar ground. "Maryam!" Intisar called from the kitchen, where she had finished setting Baaba's lunch in the small bowl he used to take to the farm. Maryam wanted to ask him why he had to go to the farm on Eid day but she couldn't bring herself to. Rather, she watched her father got donned in his last Eid's outfit, looking a bit younger than his age with a smile so wide she doubted if  he hadn't been given the beautiful clouds she had admired just minutes ago.

She didn't answer her elder sister, but she stood up and went to the small kitchen that was clogged with the smoke of the woods. "Move away, you'll smell of the woods, okay?" Intisar had uttered while she came out of the kitchen herself. She stared at her for a moment, trying so hard to assimilate what she had said but she had spoken so fast that she seemed to have missed a word that would make her actually understand what she wanted her to do.

So, she stood there. Her Eid glam ever so beautiful, as Intisar said when they both finished getting ready. She barely looked into the mirror, but she did that today and she only smiled a little before she wordlessly returned the mirror back to her sister, something about her eyes making her uncomfortable.

She felt Intisar's hands on her shoulders as she stared into her eyes with her motherly, yet sisterly smile plastered on her lips. "Maryam," she called out softly, in a way that told her that her sister wanted her to focus on her lips, so she would easily grasp what she was going to say. "I said you should stay away from the kitchen unless you want to smoke like the woods. Which practically means, go back to where you were sitting, I'll talk from here and you'll be able to hear me, okay?" Maryam was silent for a minute before she nodded her head and turned back to where she was and sat down.

Intisar smiled at her and before she could say a word, Baaba was back into the house with something in his hand. They all turned their heads towards him and he went to where Maryam sat and found a space on the mat and sat down as well. He motioned for Intisar to come over and she did so, happily.

"Are you done with the meal?" He asked Intisar and she nodded her head at him.

"Yes, Baaba. But y'all are just going to the farm to have something like a reunion in your Eid clothes and good food, right? None of you will work?" He laughed, and that was when she realized she had asked that question countless times this morning and his answer had always been the same.