Published: Friday, July 28th 2017 6:49 pm

Jummah Mubarak!!!

Collided- Chapter Six

February 21st 2018

        I always tried my best to help out around the house. To me it just didn't feel right to be living here as dead weight. If there was something for me to do or something that needed to be done, I wanted to jump on that and do it without hesitation. Sadly, that only lasted until my job and school took up most of my time. Before I knew it I was swamped with so much and I completely forgot about what I planned to do.

        Tehreem would hardly say anything about it apart from asking Amna and I to assist her in cooking, but she was usually the one to do all of the cleaning and cooking. But with her sudden declaration of pain, Ramadan, and summer coming up, it was time for me to pick up most of the slack. Ahmed was still away on a business trip, the kids are at school, Tehreem is resting, and I decided to do what I should have kept up doing a long time ago. Cleaning...

***

        One hour later I found myself laid out on the couch and using one of Amina's coloring books to fan me. Not only was I exhausted from doing all that I could to make sure the house was sparkly clean, the heat blew around the house giving it that winter warmness Tehreem loved. As the forecaster predicted, the tempurture had dropped tremendously over the last week, and it was now thick sweater weather. I might have been exaggerating about the heat not too long ago, but I've always been a cold person. I like the sunny weather, but the heat could kiss my butt.

        "Don't you have work today?" I sat up quickly, giving myself whiplash, as Tehreem descended the last step and eyed me tiredly, but with confusion. Her eyes wondered to the coffee table in front of the couch, and she groaned, walking towards it to rearrange the setup.

        "New schedule," I stated plainly, watching in sadness as she placed everything I had organized back the way she liked it. She then moved to the loveseat in the corner and moved around the pillows I had set up.

        "So when do you go in?" She kept her back to me as she asked me. Her hands moved around quickly as she fluffed the cushions on the couch and set the pillows the way she wanted them. "Hm?"

"Tomorrow. You don't like the setup?" I quickly asked when she moved from the couch to eye the living room from anything out of place. I have to stop her before she undoes everything I did.

"It just doesn't feel right," She placed her thumb and index finger on her chin thought. "Doesn't the room feel..."

"Feel...?" I questioned, slowly feeling my hopes of doing something right slip away as she found her words.

"Out of place!" She exclaimed, pointing at different places around the room and even the kitchen where I had dusted for half an hour. "Even this," She moved around the kitchen to pick up the fruit bowl. "Who did this? I never place the fruit this way, no."

"But couldn't you give the new setup a chance?" I stood up from my place on the couch and followed her movement into the kitchen and by the fruit bowl.

"I wouldn't be able to sleep if I left it this way, Jamila," She chuckled, setting the fruit bowl down and taking out a glass to fill up some water. "Would you mind helping me fix this—"

"I did it," I interrupted her with a sigh and gestured to my wrinkled clothes to prove my point. Her eyes widened as I said this and turned off the tap from running.

"You cleaned?"

"Really? That's what you got from this?" I folded my arms tightly around my chest as I awaited her response.

        "The house is clean, but..." She paused again to look around the rooms as if to find something out of place. To me everything looked fine and the things I moved around didn't change up the setup that much. Aside from a table I pushed over a few feet and a lamp I plugged in, all I did was clean, not rearrange.

        "You can say you hate it," I pulled out one of the kitchen chairs and sat down, slumping my shoulders. "It only took me almost two hours to do, but go ahead," I used my hand to gesture around, "say it."

        "It's hard to believe that you're almost twenty," Tehreem smiled and followed my movements by pulling out a chair. She sat down slowly as if in pain, but quickly tried to rearrange herself so I wouldn't notice, but I did. "I don't hate it," She finally said after a while, but I was already settled in defeat because my hard work had gone to waste. In that moment as I awaited for her to continue, the doorbell sounded off crushing my suspense.

        "Really?" I groaned, looking up at nothing in particular as if to look for an answer. "She was about to say it!"

        "Later," Tehreem laughed with a shrug of her shoulders. "Now please answer the door."

        "Okay, but this isn't over!" I called after her as I got up to find my emergency cardigan and scarf I stashed by the door. I have learned one time too many that not keeping at least an emergency scarf placed at different 'red zones' of the house, I was in for a rude awakening. After pulling on my cardigan and situating my scarf, I pulled open the door and smiled at who I saw. The mailman stood in front of me with a tight lipped smile and shades on.

        "Hello," He greeted.

        "Hi," I replied back and zeroed my eyes in on the package in his hands. "Who's that for?"

        "Apparently," He paused to hold the box he was holding up higher and examine the name. As I waited for him, I decided to do a once over of it myself. It wasn't a big box, a small one, and it was packaged perfectly. That did nothing to help me narrow down the search. Aside from Zahrah and Tehreem, everyone in our house knew how to wrap a package pretty well.

        With all of my siblings moved away now and little chance of them coming back for our birthdays, their kids, or even themselves, we send out a lot of packages every year.

        "A Jamila?" He asked hesitantly as if I would be angry that he didn't pronounce my name right, but he did. I smiled, assuring him that he did in fact say it right and reached for the box. "Great! Just sign here."

        "Okay," I took the tablet he passed me and signed my name, then went inside.

        "Who was it?" Tehreem asked as I made my way inside in the living room and to the couch. She spotted the box in my hand and pointer towards it. "Who is that from?"

        "Abi!" I said in a mixture of surprise and happiness as I read the name. Guilt filled me as I realized I haven't talked to him over the phone in a while, just texting. In fact, I haven't spoken to my mother either. As soon as I lsat down and began ripping it apart, Tehreem cane over towards me and passed me the scissors.

        "Be careful," She scolded as she sat down. I didn't listen and continued to use my hurt hand to hold the box and using the other to rip it open. What happened next is a product of me not listening. I sucked in a deep breath as my finger got caught on the box, cutting it in the process. Tehreem glared from besides me. "I told you to be careful."

        "I know," I groaned at the cut on my finger that was now starting to bleed and brought it up to my mouth. "Ya Allah, that hurt!"

        "Let me do it," Tehreem pulled my box and scissors towards her with a smirk and quickly opened it, frowning at what was inside. "You like photography?" She asked in confusion.

       My eyes lit up at her words. I completely forgot about my injured finger and grabbed the box, beaming at the contents. Inside lay my camera that I had gotten years ago, wrapped in a crochet case my Jedda had made for me once upon time.

        "Yes I take pictures," I answered Tehreem, slowly reaching inside and picking it up. The tag from the repair was still on it, giving me clarification that it had been fixed. My heart rate rose as I read it, and I mentally reminded myself to thank my Abi for having it fixed. From the moment I broke it–a day before coming back home during New Years break–my heart shattered knowing that I wouldn't see it for at least a week or so. I had left the repair job in the hands of my Abi per his request. I completely forgot about being upset that he kept forgetting to take it and gave it a good look.

The strap, my spare sd cards, and even a cloth to clean the lense lay in front of me. This day was slowly but surely turning into a good one.

***
After helping Tehreem start dinner and place everything I had arranged back in the spot she wanted them in, I threw on some clothes and rushed out of the door. It was already late asr, the part of the day when you can tell how long the day would last for. While the sunset would be a wonderful moment to capture, I decided I wanted to capture the last  hour or so before it was time to leave.

        I was in such a hurry to get out of the house and go anywhere that I hadn't noticed where I was going and what I was doing. Somehow I ended up at the bus stop right when the bus showed up and got on. I sat towards the back and kept to myself like I usually do when I go places. The roads passed by and people were going every which was as we drove. Before I knew it, I was twenty minutes away in a neighborhood with houses much smaller and broken down than the ones where I live. Potholes lined the street and shady people walked up and down the sidewalk, making me feel uncomfortable.

        Despite all of that, the sound of children laughing called me towards them. So I got off of the bus in search of the noise. As soon as I stepped off of the bus, I patiently waited for it to drive away so I could go over. It wasn't a park but a field, and there seemed to be like some sort of family reunion or community gathering of some sort. A thick cloud of smoke filled the air above where a man and woman manned the grill. Even from where I stood across the street, I could smell how good the food would be.

        Someone's horn brought me out of my daze. I quickly took a few steps back onto the sidewalk and took a deep breath. I wasn't even close to being on the road, but something about this neighborhood told me to be careful.

       "Talah!" Someone yelled from behind me and I turned around. A guy no more than his teens stood on the lopsided steps of the house behind me. He had his hands cupped around his mouth like a microphone as he yelled across the street and to the group having a cookout. A girl with short black pigtails looked up from the swing she sat on and to the guy calling her.

        "What, Mustafa?" She called back in annoyance, as if he was interrupting her time. I couldn't help the smile that came to my face at the way she yelled back, but I held in the laugh. The guy whose name is now Mustafa scoffed at her and dropped his hands down from his mouth. He used one of his hands to beckon her over, causing her to groan. She promptly got up from the swing with her shoulders slumped and crossed the street when no one was coming. Mustafa went inside.

        As soon as she got to the sidewalk and turned back around to glare at the car who didn't slow down for her, she stopped by me.

        "You're not from around here," She stated and placed her hands on her hips, coming towards me. Pursing her lips did nothing to hide the dimple that dented her left cheek in. "Are you?"

         "I'm afraid not," I answered her.

         Talah laughed and shook her head at me. "That's actually a good thing," She stated again. A bead of swear traces down her dark forehead and she swatted it away. "You don't want to be from around here."

        "It doesn't seem that bad," I did a once over of the neighborhood to prove my point, but who was I kidding. I probably have seen the street–Maple Street–on the news a few times and didn't realize it.

        "Sure it isn't," Talah smiled at me and lifted her head at the sky and towards where the sun was beginning to get lower. She used one of the hands she had on her hip to cover her eyes from the brightness of the sun. "It's getting late now," She announced what I had already figured. "You don't want to be by yourself when it gets dark."

         "Why not? I can hold my own."

        She gave me a look that proved she didn't believe me and started walking towards her house. She expertly avoided the parts of the steps that were broken and lopsided and stood on the porch.

        "You may think you can but this place will humble you," She said. I guess the way she said it made me realize how right and sure she was about where she lived. Even at her age she has to worry and be aware of things only adults should be able to comprehend. But that's life. You can't choose what happens, you just have to ride it out. "The bus comes back around sunset. Don't miss it," Was all she said before opening the door and going inside.

For the rest of the time I was there until the bus arrived, I went over to the field Talah had just come from and sat down on one of the far benches. I watched as everyone played and got along, even danced to some music playing. They were all having a good time and I couldn't fault them for it. It was a beautiful day, and food is just as beautiful. By the time the bus had arrived I had taken a few photos of everything going on around me, the neighborhood houses included. That was the main part I wanted to capture.

As I was walking to the stop, I paused by where Talah came towards me. A reflection of the sun shone on something on the ground beckoning me forward. It turned out to be one of the barrettes Talah had in her hair when she bounced over to me. I was on my way to return it to her home when I heard the sound of the bus doors closing.

"Wait!" I waved the bus driver over and stuffed the barrette in my pocket. I didn't want to just leave it on the ground and I didn't have enough time to return it. My first impression of this area–severely run down–didn't compare to how I felt after being around them for a while. The place had a sense of home, love, and family. If not for the barrette, than for me. I have to find a way back over here.

***

"Have you ever heard of or been to Kingston?" I asked Tehreem. We had just now finished dinner and I was helping her clean the table.

"Not that I know of," She paused what she was doing to scrunch up her nose in thought, but eventually came up blank. If I was going to ask anyone about the city of Miami and the different areas, I would always go to Tehreem. She had studied and explored this city from top to bottom before deciding to move down here with Noor. If it wasn't for the fact that he persuaded her with downtown, the stores, and the beach, she probably wouldn't have moved.

"It's a really bad neighborhood on the west side," I explained to her. I sprayed the spray on the table to wipe it up. "Maple is one of the street names."

"The Kings?!" She gasped at me and narrowed her eyes. My own eyes widened a fraction when she practically threw the dirty dishes in the sink and stood in front of me with a hand on her hip. "Jamila, were you in the Kings today?" She slowly asked with gritted teeth. Amna, Mina, and Zak turned towards the kitchen to see what was going on.

"It wasn't on purpose," I immediately held my hands up in defense. It didn't really matter how many times I tried to make excuses as to why I was there, all she would hear is that I was there. If a little girl had to tell me how bad it was, it was pretty bad.

"We don't go to the Kings, Jamila," She scolded me with a click of her tongue and turned on the water to start washing. "Amna, come here and do these."

"Okay," Amna nodded and stood up from her place on the couch.

"Kingston is basically not a part of Miami." Tehreem continued after she had Amna situated at the sink. She sat down at the table while I continued to wipe it down. "They're like Florida's rejects. The people who come from there don't make it far."

"That's a bit harsh don't you think?" I asked with a pause, raising an eyebrow at her. The description she was giving me is not exactly what I would have described Kingston. Sure the neighborhood needs work, but they are people too. We can't talk bad about them because they didn't have the same lifestyle we did.

Tehreem shrugged and folded her hands atop the table. "Maybe, but it's the truth. The Kings are bad news. They are actually one of the top places on the news," She laughed.

I was just taking it all in. Riverside may be a small town but it doesn't have areas like the Kings there. The saying 'you learn things everyday' is most definitely true. It's amazing what you see and learn about different things when you branch out. The more I listened to my sister, the more it was aparent that she was just looking out for me like anyone who cares would. She just wanted me to be safe and not in harms way. For that I am grateful. But then I was reminded of the barrette I found on the ground when leaving.

The wise thing to do would have been just to leave it and have her find it later. But of course I had to be the one to take it with me, almost completely missing the bus as I did so. But I had to get it back to her for many reasons. Number one: it didn't belong to me and I took it. I have to give it back. Number two: Kingston–the Kings–intrigued me to no end. I needed to know more.

***

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