"Assalamu alaikkum, Little ones!" Hisham said as he entered the little girls' bedroom with a paper bag in his hand and Afra followed him, carrying a cloth bag. They both had stopped using polythene bags and single-use plastics ever since they joined Re-tree Sri Lanka organisation.
"Wa alaikkum salam!!" Both girls said as they turned to look at them. And at the same time, their kitten strode out from under the table and jumped on to the bed, curling up and making himself comfortable on one of the fluffy pillows there.
"I see, you've started to let the kitten inside your bedroom again," Hisham said with a grimace. "Neem, get him out of the pillow and keep him down. Cat fur can cause asthma."
"What is asthma?" Maryam asked him while Thasneem climbed up the bed to get the kitten, but it tapped her hands several times with its paws and made himself even more comfortable on the pillow.
"Asthma is a disease that affects the lungs," Hisham explained. "It causes wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness and coughing at night. Cat fur and skin can cause allergies and it can trigger asthma. That's why we tell you to keep your kitten out of your room. It is nice to feed him and keep him safe in his cat-house. But don't go too near him, okay?"
"But it looks like Kitty wants to sleep here," Thasneem said, giving Hisham a pleading look. "See... He doesn't want to come out of that pillow."
"No, he has to go downstairs to his cat- house to sleep," Afra said precisely. "Didn't you hear what your Dada said just now?"
"But he has to sleep there alone," Maryam said gloomily. "Shall we bring the cat-house upstairs, Dada?"
Hisham glanced at Afra and raised his brow questioningly. "Alright, we'll bring the cat-house upstairs and place it in the hall tomorrow, in shaa Allah," Afra said as she placed the bag on the table. "Also, we can change his cushion and give him that pillow to sleep instead. It looks like he loves to snuggle up in that pillow."
"Yey!" Thasneem cheered and jumped up and down on the bed and the kitten got frightened of her sudden movements. It got up and raced down from the bed immediately and hid under the chair.
"Ooh... I didn't mean to scare you!" Thasneem said to the kitten apologetically. "I'm sorry, Kitty."
"Okay, mission completed!" Hisham said with an amused grin. "Come down, Neem! Don't you girls want to see what we've got for you in the shopping bags?"
"What is it, Dada?" Thasneem asked excitedly and jumped down from the bed and swayed to gain her balance.
"It looks like my girl is practising to become a Tarzan," Hisham commented, shaking his head at her. "Look what we've got for you."
Both girls took each of the bags in their hands and spilt the stuff on the bed.
"Wow! Nice shoes and umbrellas!" Maryam said excitedly with a bright smile lit up on her face. "Shall I take this blue umbrella?"
"Okay, then I'll take this white colour umbrella," Thasneem said. "It has beautiful black strips on it. The shoes look the same."
"You are allowed to wear only blue and black coloured shoes in your nursery, right? Afra reasoned out. "That's why we bought these blue sneakers for both of you. Try them on your feet and see if they fit well."
"Okies..." Maryam said as both of them took each pair of shoes and tried them on their feet.
"They seem to fit both of you perfectly well, Masha Allah," Hisham said as he checked their feet. "You'd be able to wear your new sneakers during the trip tomorrow, in shaa Allah."
"Tomorrow!" Thasneem said with anticipation. "It feels like tomorrow would never come."
"You'd wake up in the morning tomorrow if you fall asleep tonight," Hisham said, shuffling her thick dark hair.
"Then I'll go to bed earlier today!" Thasneem said with a smile.
"But you both should have your dinner first, do you hear me?" Afra reminded them. "I've prepared noodles and soup for you. Also, I've packed a box of chocolates and some cookies for the three of you to take during the trip."
"Mu'az isn't gonna be with us during the tour, Mama," Thasneem said with a disappointed look. "Miss Woods paired him up with Bilal, the annoying boy in our class. And they are going to travel in the boys' bus."
"But you can give his share of chocolates and cookies when you get down from the bus, right?" Afra asked her.
"Yes, we can," Thasneem said. "But I'd like it if he could go with us."
"Then we'll arrange a family tour at the end of this year," Hisham said with a smile. "I'll talk about it with Ahsan sometime, in shaa Allah."
"Mama!" Maryam called as she stood in front of the mirror in a stylish posture with her hands on her hips and new shoes on. "How do I look now?"
"You look like a child model stepped out of a kids magazine, Masha Allah," Afra stated with admiration.
"Wait!" She said in a rush as something came to her mind. "Neem, give me my umbrella! It's going to rain here!"
All of them cracked up in a hearty laugh when she opened her umbrella and started to dance with it. "I'm singing in the rain... I'm dancing in the rain..." She sang along and Thasneem joined her soon with her umbrella.
"Wait... There's a real song just like it." Hisham said and googled the first line of her made-up song. Then he played 'I'm singing in the rain' song by Gene Kelly on his phone.
"I'm singin' in the rain
Just singin' in the rain
What a glorious feeling
I'm happy again.
I'm laughing at clouds.
So dark up above,
The sun's in my heart
And I'm ready for love."
Both little girls swayed their umbrellas and danced to the song with lots of giggles and their kitten decided to join them by pacing around them. Hisham took the camera from the top of the cupboard and started to record their joyous moment and Afra joined them by clapping her hands along with the song.
"Let the stormy clouds chase.
Everyone from the place
Come on with the rain
I've a smile on my face
I walk down the lane
With a happy refrain
Just singing,
Singing in the rain
Dancing in the rain
La ri la la ri la,
I'm happy again
I'm singin' and dancing in the rain
I'm dancing and singin' in the rain"
"That's a beautiful song!" Hisham remarked at the end of the song and carefully replaced the camera on the top of the cupboard. "Alright, you both have to wake up earlier in the morning tomorrow. So we better have our dinner now and go to bed. Come on let's go downstairs to the dining room!"
"Okay!" Thasneem said with a delightful grin and removed her shoes hastily. "Let's go to sleep earlier and wake up in the tomorrow morning!" Both parents chuckled at her childishness.
"She's adorable when she speaks that way," Afra said to Hisham with a smile as they got out of the room after the girls. "I'm afraid I'm going to miss our children's childish behaviours when they grow up."
"Well, I'm afraid of it too," Hisham confessed. "I feel like wanting to sing 'never grow up' like Taylor Swift whenever I think of it. But I try not to think of it, Affy. Why would we worry about the unseen future while we still have our beautiful present at hands?"
"You are right, dear." She said with a nod as both of them reached the staircase together. "I wonder when you became a philosopher."
"Obviously, on the day I married you, Miss Gorgeous!" Hisham said with a wink as he took her hand and led her down the stairs with a smile. And Afra wished that smile would stay on his face forever.
Hisham made the girls talk with Fahad on a video chat after they had had their dinner. And Fahad felt delighted to know that they're about to go on a trip in the morning. He listened to all of their exciting talks about the trip with so much enthusiasm and felt disappointed when they said 'good night' to him after a while. But he understood that they had to go to bed earlier to start their wonderful day with a fresh mind in the morning tomorrow. He wished everything would go well for the children during the journey the next day.