The Scars They Hide

Chapter Twenty-Three - Back Home Again

Chapter Twenty-Three - Back Home Again

Eid was magnificent as it always was. There was dressing up, there was laughter, there was drama and best of all, there was food.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you were pregnant with the way that you're eating," Sara said, nudging Lutfiyah in the side as she picked up another chip.

"Did you say you were pregnant?" the women to Lutfiyah's right asked, turning her face eagerly, butting into the conversation.

Sara grinned at her with all her teeth, her fingers digging into Lutfiyah's thigh in irritation.

"No, not me. Lutfiyah."

The woman, their aunty from some marriage of some cousin, gasped. "Lutfiyah? But, you're not married, I mean are you?"

Sara started to laugh. "No, I'm just joking, Sumaya Ma. You know, that's a thing."

The woman's face scrunched up sourly and she stood up with a huff. "You young people have no respect these days. If this is how you speak to your mother-in-law, it's a wonder you're still married."

Lutfiyah opened her mouth in shock as Sumaya Ma walked away with a flounce, her nose turned in the air as if she had smelt something bad.

"I cannot believe she just said that. Who says things like that?" she asked in horror, lifting her glass to take a sip of the cordial.

Sara sighed and shook her head. "I, on the other hand, am not surprised. She just couldn't stand the taste of her own medicine. She didn't need to pop her head into our business."

Lutfiyah set her drink down, turning to face Sara as she did, making sure that they had a little privacy before she spoke. "You're really annoyed at this pregnancy thing, hey. Wanna talk about it?"

Her cousin sighed, her hand fluttering to her hijab for something to do. "I don't know, I mean-

She was interrupted as three squealing children came racing in, weaving through the tables and chairs to reach their destination. Amongst them was May, her hand clutched to her elbow, dress dirty at the knee area and just shy of tearing.

She rushed to her mother, tears streaming down her face as she caught sight of her. Lutfiyah felt a jolt of pain go through her at the sight of her injured baby, bending down to lift her daughter into her lap, keeping her shoes away from her own clothes in the process.

"What happened, baby? Lemme see your hand."

May lifted her hand away from her elbow blubbering out an explanation as the two other children who had come with her also tried to explain.

"I was jumping on the-

"We wasn't getting any chances-

"And then Ahmed said he mustn't hurt us-

"But then he pushed her!"

"And it was so sore, Mama!"

Getting the gist of the story, Lutfiyah nodded and rubbed the scraped skin, seeing that it wasn't anything major and rather just a little bruised.

"Okay, I told you to be careful and not play by the big children, didn't I?"

May's face scrunched up in anguish. "But iz not fair. We oso wanna play on the jumpy castle!"

"Yeah, Lutfiyah Apa! Aadil is always telling us to go play PBnJ. We don't even know what's that. And we don't want to. We want to jump!" exclaimed the small boy who had come as May's escort.