Like a typical mashriqi girl, she was busy preparing breakfast at lightning speed. She placed the pots on both the stoves at the same time. In one, she wanted to boil sprouts and the other one was for making tea. Then she went to the rack and picked up the container of tea leaves. There was very little tea left in it.

“I have to go and buy tea leaves in the evening,” she thoughts as she opened the box and poured all the tea leaves into the pot. Only after the box was empty did she realize that she had put the tea leaves in the sprouts.

Now she was looking longingly at the two pots.

Breakfast was ruined.

Now, she could not make another tea nor could she eat sprouts boiled in tea leaves. She took a deep breath and went to her room to get the abaya. Now she had to go out to buy breakfast.

Shabana Mukhtar