Short Stories in Oman : On a Zephyr



The sun streamed into the room lazily through the mosaic tiled windows. Rafeeq rubs his eyes and leaps out of his bed. He goes over to his new spider man bag, bought after much pestering and then many thank yous "Shukran abba Shukran" to his father. His new books with the gleaming brown paper covering are lined neatly inside. He bends over and takes a deep whiff which tranforms into a smile on his face.


"Yalla !!" - his mother yells from the kitchen, hands smeared in the lunch she is packing for him. "You don't want me to come there! Get ready!" Rafeeq quickly runs to the bath, half mindedly washes his face and brushes. Its his first day of school and he dreams of running around the playground, kicking ball and scoring goals over dust clouds kicked up by his opponents on the other team.


********


"Yalla Badar!" Rafeeq's mom yells again. "You will be late for your first day at school". Badar clumsily picks up his new spiderman bag and heads towards the door where his father waits. "Atleast say bye to your brother!", Badar throws a glance at Rafeeq who is now attached to more tubes than he can count.


I would say bye to him, but can he even hear me..he thinks.