Believers of Paradise

Z A R A

"I need to buy some new bangles," Ameera, my best friend told me as we walked through the marketplace. This place was filled with shops of different sorts including grocery, clothes, jewelry, shoes, handmade items, and such. Ma always sent either Rahaan, Zaina, or me to get a few things for our house. Today, I was on duty to get the things, and I asked Ameera to come along because she also needed to do some grocery shopping like me.

"What for?" I asked, blocking the sun from my view with my right hand.

"Ma got me a new dress last week. I am going to wear it for this dinner. And I don't have any bangles of that colour," Ameera explained.

"Okay let's go to the bangle seller," I said and we continued walking. Ameera is my partner in crime. I have known her since birth pretty much. She is older than me by just a month, and we get along very well. Ameera and I have always done everything together. She is someone I stick to no matter what.

When we found the bangle seller, the only one of Rainwater Valley, we marched up to him as he stood in front of a wooden stand, splattered with bangles of various colours and tones. He was an old man, who had kids who worked in the market place too in different stores. His oldest son though, lived in the city with his wife.

"Greetings, uncle," Ameera and I grinned at him.

     "Ah, Zara and Ameera. How have you both been?" He smiled widely at us.

     "We all great, uncle. Tell us about yourself," I said.

     "Nothing new for me," he replied.

     "I haven't heard from you from a while. You should come over for tea sometime. Abba was just saying," Ameera said.

      We looked through the bangles and tried to find a perfect match for Ameera. Some she didn't like, some didn't fit, so we stayed at the bangle store for a few minutes and uncle even offered us some creamy milk tea from a store beside. Of course we denied but he said that it's been a while since he last offered us anything.

     When we were done and Ameera was just about to pay for the bangles, she turned to me and spoke. "Zara, you should get some new bangles too,"

     I shook my head. "I'm not sure that will be the wisest decision," I shuddered at the thought of what happened last night. "My parents are already not very thrilled with me. If I spend my money on something I don't need at the moment I'm not sure that will be the best thing,"

     "Why? What did you do?" Ameera asked. Uncle turned to some other customers and started talking to them.

      "Nothing really. Abba had his guests over last night and they had three kids. One was a girl Tahira's age. Another girl and boy somewhere around us," Ameera nodded so I continued. "And basically the older girl started telling off her younger sister for playing with Tahira saying that our entire house is dirty and all," I explained. "And me being me I replied back and then the girl told lies about how I was insulting her,"

      "Sheesh,"

     "And now abba is mad because that family is mad," I almost rolled my eyes.

Uncle came back and looked at us. "You should get some bangles too, dear," he said to me.

"Hmm," I said. "I'll have a look,"

I fished through the bangles and then chose ones with a bright hue of pink. When I was about to pay, Ameera held me back.

"Let me buy these for you," she said.

"That's okay," I shook my head. "I'll get them,"

"Let me," she got out a small wad of money and handed it to uncle. "Besides, you got me a gift a while back. My turn now," we both smiled.