"Dada, wake up!" Maryam struggled to climb up to her father's cosy bed with a piece of Clay in her hand. "Look what I've made." She removed the blanket from Hisham's face and Shook his shoulder with her free hand.
"Let me sleep, honey." He said sleepily without opening his eyes. "I worked late." Maryam gazed at his face for a moment and said, "I waited till you come home. I wanted to show this to you. But I fell asleep before you came."
Hisham struggled to open his drowsy eyes, not wanting to disappoint his little daughter and looked at her with the aid of the light which came from his night lamp.
It must be still dark outside. Maryam was in her nightdress, and probably had just woken up, and had walked right into his bedroom without any other thoughts in her mind.
Her curly dark brown hair was tousled from her night's sleep and had fallen on to her dark eyebrows covering her forehead. Hisham reached out his hand and pushed her curls back, revealing her crescent forehead. "What did you want to show me?" He asked her, and she smiled at him brightly, forming dimples on her cheeks as she held out the clay piece right in front of his nose.
He took it from her hand and had a good look at it. "Oh, wow!" He said with admiration. "It is a bird."
"It is a swan." She corrected him still with that smile on her face. Her luminous brown eyes shone at him, reminding him of someone whom no longer lived in this world.
"But swan is a bird, isn't it?" He asked her, returning her smile with his dimple cheeks. "Yes, it is a bird." She said, looking at her handwork as if scanning that Clay piece with her eyes. "But there are many kinds of birds, and they have different shapes and colours. I have made a swan with white Clay because swan is white, isn't it? But doesn't it look like a swan, Dada?" She asked in an uncertain tone.
"Yes, it does look like a swan, and it's beautiful." He reassured her. And I see you are getting smart, Masha Allah. Where did you learn all these about birds?"
"At my nursery." She said proudly. "Yesterday we learned all about birds. And our teacher told us to make different kinds of birds with clay. Neem gave me her white Clay pieces. So I put them with mine and made a big swan. And I gave her my blue Clay pieces, and she made a big peacock with that. It was more beautiful. So the teacher kept it inside the nursery showcase. So, she couldn't bring it home. She wasn't happy about that."
Hisham let out a yawn and kept the Clay swan on the stool next to his bed. He wanted to get back to his sleep. "Well, it's nice of both of you to share each other's things between yourselves." He said and pulled the blanket further up to cover himself again. "I appreciate that. But now, you should go back to your bed. It's just four o'clock now."
"But I'm awake now," Maryam said, as she retrieved her swan from her father's stool. "I can't go back to sleep!"
"Oh, my dear." He said in a whisper and closed his eyes. "Then let me sleep."
Maryam set on her father's bed silently and watched him sleep for a while. And then she got bored, so she began to count her fingers. There were only ten fingers, no more.
She needed to do something now. Because she was getting more bored every passing second. 'What if I wake up Neem?' She thought for a while. But she didn't want to go back to her room.
So she set her eyes on Hisham's neatly arranged table and saw colourful pens on the wooden pen holder, a blue colour glass box placed on some written papers, a small pile of files, a large red colour book, a night lamp which illuminated the whole room with its dull yellow light, a house-shaped alarm clock and a medium size box wrapped up neatly with a luminous red paper and tied up with a blue ribbon.
"Oh, wow!" Maryam said in an excited voice. "It is a gift box!"
That shiny red colour gift box was so catchy. 'Who gave this to Dada?' She wondered. 'And what is inside that box?' She couldn't stand the surprise, so she tried to guess, and failed. 'It must be something beautiful.' She decided at last. 'Because the wrapping is so shiny and beautiful.'
She looked at Hisham, he was sound asleep now. 'Maybe, I'll have to wait until morning to know what is inside it.' She thought as she gazed at the box longingly. But how long can she wait? She set in silent gazing at the red box like a hopeful puppy. She wished the morning would come soon.
She went to the window and opened It. It was still dark outside. A cold wind rushed through the window, giving a chill to her whole body.
She shivered and backed away from the window. Then she closed it again and went back to Hisham's bed. 'What if Dada won't wake up?' She wondered looking at his sleeping face. 'What if everyone in the house wakes up late?' The house was very still and silent.
She gazed at the gift box again. The sight of it was so welcoming. 'I can't wait until morning, and till everybody wakes up to open that box, and see what is inside'. She kept the clay swan on her father's side and slid down from the bed gracefully.
She cast one last look at him, and then went to the chair and pulled it closer to the table. "He wouldn't mind." She told herself as she stood on the chair. "I'm just going to have a look at it. I won't touch whatever inside the box."
She put out a hand and reached the box. She drew it near to her and undid the strings and wrappings, and then opened the box with enthusiasm.
Her wide luminous brown eyes widened more, and her small red lips opened a little as she took in what was inside."Oh, wow!" She said with excitement. "It is a glass chandelier! And it is beautiful! What are those tiny glass things tied up with colourful strings?"
She got the chandelier out of the box and held it in her hand. Small colourful glass flowers, fishes, birds, butterflies and other beautiful figurines hung from the bright copper rings and made soft tinkling noises as they gently danced in colourful strings and touched one another. "This is SO AMAZING!!" Maryam said out loud, as she touched the pink butterfly with her other hand.
She was bewitched by the bright colours and tinkling noises that she didn't notice the light went on in the next room and didn't hear the footsteps nearing the door. "I can't wait to show this to everyone." She said in a small voice as she admired the chandelier.
"MARYAM! What are you doing here??" Maryam jumped out of her skin when she suddenly heard that Stern voice and turned around quickly on the chair to face her aunt Sulaiha. She lost her balance in her urge, stumbled down the chair and fell on the floor, hurting her left elbow.
The chandelier shattered beside her, like a loss of hope. A sharp pain seeped through her elbow and made her face reddened and shrivel with bitterness. A big teardrop made its way through her heavy eyelashes and rolled down on her rosy cheeks. She touched her aching elbow, bit her lower lip and let out a silent sob.
Then she felt a hand on her shoulder, straightening her up gently from the floor. She looked up and saw her father gazing down at her with concern.
"Are you hurt, honey?" He asked her as he helped her to get to her feet. "Yes," she nodded, still touching her elbow.
"Come here." Hisham lifted her from the floor. Carrying her in his sturdy arms, he petted her gently on the back and stroked her curly dark brown hair.
It was a kind of first aid he gave her whenever she was hurt. And she always felt much better and easier in her mind when she had finished sobbing into her father's shoulder, even if the wounds and pains remained the same in her body. It was a miracle that only her father could do. And he had always been very kind to her and her sister. And so was her mother. But not this aunt Sulaiha, who had come from Dubai.
She still stood near the door with a harsh look on her face. And her face showed that she didn't approve the way her brother dealt with this kid. She had expected him to be harsh on her for wandering in his room while he was asleep, and for smashing the gift she had given him while her returning to the country two days ago.