Page 35 of A Life Imagined
“Our mama’s Navine.”She stabbed the toe of her sandal into the mat.“Do you still think about her?”
“Always.”
“Was she nice?”
“Very.She loved to read me stories.What about your mother?What was she like?”
“Beautiful,” Zahra said proudly.“She taught me how to draw.”
“She would doodle in the girls’ school workbooks,” Farhan recalled quietly.“Write little notes in the margins, reminding them to study hard.”
Rayan looked at the two children.Amina was the spitting image of her father, but Zahra’s high nose and broad forehead must have come from her mother.
Farhan repositioned Amina on his lap.“The man who saved them from the water—is he a friend of yours?”
“Yes.”
“Will you thank him for me?”
Rayan hesitated.“He might not be overly receptive to your thanks.”
“That’s the mark of a decent man—someone who does things without chasing acclaim.”
A smile tugged at Rayan’s lips.So I’m not the only one who sees it.“I’ll be sure to pass the message on.”
“Thank you.I’ll feel better knowing you have.”
“Of course.”Rayan finished his tea.
Farhan lifted the pot off the stove to refill their cups.“What brought you here from Canada, Rayan?”
Rayan took the hot mug into his hands and turned it absently.“A change of circumstance.”
“Good or bad?”Farhan asked, his eyes crinkling.
Rayan weighed the complexity of the question.“Both,” he said finally.“How about you?”
Farhan’s face grew serious.“Only bad.We would’ve stayed if we could.The girls loved their teachers and spending time with theirjadda.But they closed the research center because of the fighting, and I lost my job.We were hungry more often than we weren’t.That’s no way for children to live.”
“You’re right.It isn’t.”
“There was too much violence, too much danger.We knew people who’d gotten out, and we decided we would too.”He gave a sigh.“But who can say what we should have done?Leaving or staying, what would have happened either way?Maybe she would still be here, or maybe none of us would.”He blinked quickly and looked away.
“The research center,” Rayan said, careful to change the subject.“What line of work are you in?”
“I’m an agricultural scientist.We researched the development of sustainable crops in the world’s dry areas.”
“That’s a rather specialized field.”
“It is.I know more than any normal person should about soil and rocks.”
They both laughed, and Amina squirmed on her father’s lap.Farhan’s expression once again turned pensive.“I just hope they will remember their mother, where they came from, who they are.I don’t want them to lose everything.”
“They won’t forget her.”Rayan shook his head, surprised by the conviction in his voice.
Amina lifted the doll in her hands to press it against her father’s face.
Farhan moved the doll to one side and planted a kiss on the little girl’s cheek.“I hope you’re right.”
