Stranger In The House<\/p>\n\n\n\n
__________________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stranger In The House __________________________________________________________ Nobody exactly knew the actual age of Korimunnesa \u2013 but the general concession had been she was somewhere around 80 \u2013 more or less. When she was born in a remote village in Bangladesh, nobody kept a record of births. She was quite healthy for her age \u2013 skinny but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-238","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shabbeedurshuja.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/238"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shabbeedurshuja.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shabbeedurshuja.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shabbeedurshuja.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shabbeedurshuja.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=238"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/shabbeedurshuja.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":493,"href":"https:\/\/shabbeedurshuja.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/238\/revisions\/493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shabbeedurshuja.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Nobody exactly knew the actual age of Korimunnesa \u2013 but the general concession had been she was somewhere around 80 \u2013 more or less. When she was born in a remote village in Bangladesh, nobody kept a record of births. She was quite healthy for her age \u2013 skinny but had a pair of sharp eyes and keen hearing, and had no issues with movement. The only nagging problem she had was the fact that every now and then she forgot things, especially names and faces of people. Since she came to Toronto from Montreal to visit her only daughter, she was having a terrible issue with the middle-aged man, who for some strange reason lived in the same household with her daughter and two grandchildren. Her daughter Rahimatunnesa, shortly Reema, was very caring. The grandchildren were both girls. One of them \u2013 the older one, was very nice; the other one was a total prick, always looking for trouble with her \u2013 very straining but she could somehow live with that. The problem she was having had everything to do with the middle-aged man. He was a nice guy, let\u2019s be honest, really cared for her, brought presents and stuff for her even before she asked, and would run to the stores at moment\u2019s notice if she ever needed anything \u2013 all that was good. The question that truly overwhelmed her was why in the whole world was he living in this house with her daughter? What would others say? People talked. She allowed a few days to pass, to observe the situation more closely, then one morning after the man left for work in his car, she strode into the kitchen where Reema was making breakfast, and grabbed her by the arm.
\u201cReema, tell me the truth. Who is that man?\u201d
\u201cWho are you talking about?\u201d Reema pretended to be surprised.
\u201cThat man\u2026kind, good looking. He lives in this house. Brings me whatever I want. But I can\u2019t remember him at all. Who is he?\u201d
Reema smiled. \u201cWhat do you call him?\u201d
\u201cWhy, Jamai (son-in-law<\/em>)!\u201d Korimunnesa hesitantly said, not sure what her daughter was leading her into.
\u201cWhy do you call him that?\u201d
\u201cYour brothers told me to call him that\u2026 Tell me the truth, who is he?\u201d
\u201cHe is my husband, mom.\u201d Reema held her smile.
Korimunnesa was shocked with her eyes exploding. \u201cWhat are you talking about? You got married? When?\u201d
\u201cMany years ago, mom. You and Dad, your husband, had arranged my marriage with him. You forgot?\u201d Reema was clearly enjoying this conversation.
\u201cReally?\u201d Korimunnesa looked utterly surprised. \u201cWhere is your dad?\u201d
\u201cHe went to heaven, ten years ago.\u201d
Korimunnesa observed her daughter with an inquisitive, suspicious look. She didn\u2019t like the fact that Reema had a clear smirk on her face. She must be hiding something. \u201cThis is not fair. Why are you blaming us? You must have married this man on your own, hadn\u2019t you? You didn\u2019t even think of letting me know. How could you do that? I am your mother!\u201d
Her eyes became cloudy with encroaching droplets of tears. How much did she love her daughter and this was how she (Reema) treated her? Reema was about to say something but Korimunnesa didn\u2019t wait. She rushed into her room, closed the door, and crashed on her bed. She would cry in isolation for a little while. Reema, her only daughter, really hurt her this time. How could she!
\u00a0
She was not as young anymore, Korimunnesa realized. At this age, you lie down on the bed for two seconds and before you know you have dozed off. Something woke her up. At first, she didn\u2019t know what it was. But then it occurred to her \u2013 somebody was banging on her door. She jumped into a sitting position. Who would bang on her door? Must be the younger girl\u2026the prick\u2026back to give her some more hard time. She found her intolerable. Always finding something to come and badger her with. Granny did this\u2026granny did that\u2026everything was her fault. She decided not to open the door, not even respond, and let her leave after banging a few more times in vain. Her plan didn\u2019t work though. The girl was truly a brat. Leaving would have meant giving Korimunnesa a little deserving break. She turned the bolt from outside and unlocked the door, opening it with as much noise as possible. Korimunnesa was devastated. How could they put such stupid locks on the doors that can be opened from both sides? She quickly lay back on the bed and pretended to sleep. She had no intention to see the girl or even talk to her. Prick!
The girl stood there for a little bit before muttering in disgust, \u201cPretender! I know you are not sleeping. I cannot find my blue stone earrings anywhere. Granny, I saw you fondling them yesterday. Tell me the truth. Did you take them?\u201d
Korimunnesa had to wake up from her pretense. How dare this little prick call her a thief? She tartly said, \u201cI never touch your stuff. Don\u2019t bother me. Go away. Reema! Reema! Please make her go away.\u201d
Reema and the older girl both came running. The older girl, the nice one, went to university. She mustn\u2019t have had class today because she had been sleeping all morning. She looked after Korimunnesa. Nothing like the little prick. But before she could make it to Korimunnesa\u2019s room to rescue her from the little devil, something really sinister happened. The devil turned over the pillow on which Korimunnesa was sleeping and produced the pair of blue stone earrings. Korimunnesa looked at those in bewilderment. This girl was way more evil than she had initially thought. She must have hidden these earrings under Korimunnesa\u2019s pillows when she wasn\u2019t in the room to embarrass her. As soon as her mother and sister showed up the she-devil swung the two earrings from her clenched fingers before their eyes and said in a twisted, terrible angry voice, \u201cJust check this out, guys. I found my favorite earrings under Granny\u2019s pillow. She is always stealing my favorite and beautiful stuff. When I go to school she sneaks into my room, goes through all my stuff, and steals whatever she likes \u2013 usually the stuff I care about most. And when I ask them back she would bluntly deny stealing them. This is starting to piss me off.\u201d
Korimunnesa could not just stay quiet at this false allegation. \u201cLies, just lies,\u201d she objected vehemently, \u201cI never take her stuff. She hid them under my pillows to make me look like a thief. Trust me, Reema. I\u2019d never do something like that.\u201d
Reema glanced at her younger daughter with indignation. \u201cWhy are you always bothering your granny? She forgets things. What can she possibly do with your stuff?\u201d
The little one wasn\u2019t about to lose in this battle, not when she had just caught the thief red-handed. \u201cIf she has nothing to do with them then why steal them? She is a thief. Always stealing my bracelets, my color books, colorful ball pens, and rings \u2013 and the worst part is, she is a liar. Won\u2019t even admit taking them.\u201d
At this point, Korimunnesa couldn\u2019t take it anymore. She broke into tears. \u201cReema, did you hear that? She just called me a thief and a liar. Aren\u2019t you going to scold her? \u201c
Reema pulled the little girl out of the room. She scolded her a bit. The older girl sat by Korimunnesa and ran her fingers on her thin gray hair, calming her down as she quietly talked. What a nice girl! Korimunnesa eventually stopped crying. In the future she would have to be more careful, she decided. She must watch that little prick around the clock so that she cannot get in her room and hide things again. How can a little girl be such a schemer, she wondered. And let\u2019s not forget about the jealousy! If Reema had ever come to sleep next to her, the prick would evidently pop up and take her away with some worthless fabricated excuses \u2013 she was afraid to sleep alone, or she was having a stomach ache or a headache \u2013 she always found something. Jealous little brat \u2013 almost like an evil step-sister.
\u00a0
The man returned home in the evening, as usual; ate dinner with the family, and sat on a sofa in the family room to watch TV. Korimunnesa did not eat with them. She went to bed early and ate her supper very early in the evening. She took a nap after supper and sometimes came to watch a little television later at night. She liked to watch the village dramas on the local ethnic channels. Today, as she entered the family room she froze in both anger and disappointment. Reema was sitting very closely to that man, practically touching, as she watched TV. Reema had turned to glance at her and instantly sensed something was not right. She quickly came to check. \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong, mom?\u201d
\u201cWhy are you sitting next to that man?\u201d Korimunnesa angrily muttered.
\u201cHe is my husband, mom.\u201d
\u201cWhat? Really?\u201d
\u201cYes, mom. We also have two kids.\u201d Reema patiently said.
Korimunnesa was terribly surprised and very disappointed. \u201cI can\u2019t believe my own ears, Reema. What kind of girl have you become? How could you slide so low? Not only are you living with a stranger, but you have also taken kids with him! Did I bring you up to be like this?\u201d
Reema was trying to explain but Korimunnesa didn\u2019t have the mind to wait and hear her excuses and lies. She ran back into her room and closed the door. Her daughter was completely ruined. She could no longer stay in her house. She would call her older son the very next day and ask him to drop her in Montreal with the other son. True, even there she remembered seeing several strangers but at least the situation wasn\u2019t as bad.
She must have dozed off again because several mild knocks on her closed door woke her up. Must be that man. He was very polite.
\u201cWho is it?\u201d She asked.
\u201cI am Jamai, Mom,\u201d the man replied in a soft, kind voice. \u201cCan I come in?\u201d
\u201cYes, yes, come.\u201d She quickly rose to a sitting position and swiftly pulled her clothes to cover all parts of her body except the face.
Jamai slowly opened the door, took a step inside the room, and smiled divinely. \u00a0\u201cMom, do you want to go for a ride?\u201d
Korimunnesa loved car rides. Very often Jamai would take her for rides in the evening after he returned from work. Just her, nobody else, especially not the little girl. Prick! Brat! Whichever was worse.
\u201cWill you buy me some candies?\u201d She asked with apologetic anticipation.
\u201cWhich one?\u201d Jamai asked, indulgently.
\u201cAnyone. I love all candies,\u201d she said, with a wide smile.
\u201cOkay. I\u2019ll buy you some,\u201d Jamai said.
Korimunnesa jumped out of her bed. Reema and the older girl had come and were now standing in front of her room. She looked at her daughter. \u201cShould I go?\u201d
\u201cGo, Mom,\u201d Reema said, smilingly. \u201cBring some candies for us too.\u201d
\u201cI\u2019ll, I definitely will,\u201d Korimunnesa said as she quickly found her shawl and neatly placed it on her shoulders. It was summer but she still liked the cozy feeling of the shawl when she was outdoors.
\u00a0
As the car moved along the relatively quiet streets in the late evening \u2013 \u00a0now that most people had returned from work and all \u2013 \u00a0Korimunnesa watched with both pleasure and awe the fast-moving cars quickly passing them on both sides; the neatly lined houses on the side of the roads that seemed like getting pulled back into oblivion; the bright, colorful storefronts \u2013 everything looked so magical! And that mild vibration that the car produced when driven on slightly rough roads, one could easily doze off.
\u201cMom, are you okay there?\u201d The man asked from the driver\u2019s seat.
\u201cYes, I am fine,\u201d she said, perhaps a little sleepily. A few moments later, fully alert with a sudden dash of thought, she leaned forward toward the man and said with mild hesitation, \u201cJamai, you are a good man. But I can\u2019t say the same about my daughter. How could she live with a total stranger? But what can I possibly do? I am just an old, frail woman. But I can assure you one thing, my daughter has a heart of gold. Promise me you\u2019ll always look after her. Okay?\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
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