Kindred Ties

Chapter 28

Maryam had just come out of the toilet, with a towel wrapped around her. She was looking fresh and radiant such that Yasmin kept teasing her, saying perhaps her 10 years crush is about to progress.

She had to practically threaten her before she got her to shut up. Even so, whenever their eyes 'accidentally' meet, Yasmin would raise her eyebrows at her with this stupid grin on her face.

"So what are you gonna wear?" Ya amma asked watching Maryam as she took a sit in front of the dresser to apply lotion. "An abaya probably. Why are you making a big deal out of this, it's just a brother-sister day out." Yasmin snorted with laughter saying, "keep repeating that to yourself until you start to believe it."

"Thank you, sister." Ya amma laughed high five, and they high-fived. She rolled her eyes and glanced at her reflection in the mirror as she did a light makeup consisting of only eyeliner and lip tint. Once done, she grabbed her phone from the bedside drawer and checked her messages. She saw a missed call from Siddiqa.

She quickly called her back and while waiting for her to answer, she opened her wardrobe to find the clothing to wear. She picked a rose gold gown and paired a grey veil with it.

"What do you think of this?" she asked placing the clothes on her bed. They both looked at it and nodded their heads in acknowledgment. She smiled and dialed Siddiqa's number again when she didn't answer. She picked up after two rings, "hey girl." Maryam said excitedly.

"Assalam Alaikum, ya ukhtie, how are you?" She greeted in a fake Arabian accent which made Maryam laugh. "Amin wa Alaikum Assalam, ya ukhti Khayfa hakuli?"

"Alhamdulillah, let's stay there before I embarrass myself," Siddiqa said and chuckled. Maryam laughed as she walked to a little corner in the room to change. She put the phone on speaker, reduced the volume, and kept it on top of a cupboard.

"So how far, any gist. Ke Maryam I forgot to tell you what went down between ya musty and Aunty furera today." Siddiqa asked enthusiastically after a short pause. "what did she do again this time?" Maryam asked slipping into her gown.

                           —————
The house was extra quiet today, being that all the children and hajiya Juwairiyya were away on a mini-vacation. They have been gone for almost two days now.

The only people at home were the men, the ladies, and mummy. The men were all at mummy's side assisting her in some work.

"Mummy it's about time you throw this set out, it's outdated," Aisha said, raising pointing at a set of plates, on the kitchen countertop. Mummy's hand paused where it was reaching for a saucer in the cupboard and turned to face her. "Which set?"

"That one." Aisha pointed. Mummy looked at it and her face melted into a smile. "No matter how outdated it gets, I can't just throw it out. Your father gave it to me as a wedding gift. I know Ku yaran zamani wouldn't understand." She smiled reminiscing about their wedding.

Muhammad and Abdallah who were also seated by the side working glanced at each other and chuckled. "Oh, mummy is head over heels in love with daddy." Abdallah teased raising his eyebrows playfully at mummy which earned him a smack right across the back.

"Kaniyan ka da head over heels." Mummy hit his head now. "Kai mummy," he rubbed his head pouting and they all laughed. "Yaro ba kunya." Muhammad said, instigating mummy. Ya Abdallah eyed him as he says, "kaji munafinchi."

Aisha fake-gasped cupping her mouth, "Subhanallah, ya Abdallah is it our one and only ya Muhammad you're calling a hypocrite?" She looked at mummy then ya Abdallah.

"Ji yarinyan nan." Ya Abdallah eyed her and looked around to find something to throw at her. "Mummy!!" she squealed and hid behind ya Muhammad when she saw Abdallah holding his slippers to throw at her.