He bobbed his head, rested his back into the couch and sighed. “Your mother insisted and quite frankly, I had no say in there twice enough for me to drown it away”.
It sounded like the woman Nora knew too darn well; the one person whom could control the man since her biological mother passed and he decided to remarry. Like a puppet attached to some string and dancing from the edge, the ma would do anything his new wife asked of him, even if it meant at the detriment of his own pleasure. His resolve just wasn’t strong enough against her.
“Why exactly are you here, Papa?” Nora asked, hoping the man would strike the nail on its head.
Muzin got to his feet and walked across the room to the bed where his daughter sat. He eyed her tenderly, gawking at her uncovered hair with displeasure and enough intent in his eyes to show it to her.
“You are a Muslim… a Kazeem like I am and not the westerners whose ways you’re trying to copy”, he sighed.
Nora cut through immediately. “Papa!”
He held his hand out and stopped her from speaking.
“We agreed that you’d go to any school of your choice, but on the condition you practice our religion and not make a mockery of it by becoming one of them”, he continued in disheartened tone.
Nora looked around her room and wondered what exactly the man meant by “one of them”. Such meetings with her family were never pleasant and it always ended up creaming her corn just having them come to check in on her.
“Fashion and choosing to enjoy the beautiful things in life doesn’t mean I’m indulging in haram!” she fumed. “More so, I’m a student, and covering my hair… “.
Her father shot to his feet and raised his voice. “Covering your hair is part of what shows the respect and resolve you have for Islam!”
She felt herself mellow immediately, as her father continued to tear into her and what he perceived as an abject decision to stray from Islam. She turned away from him momentarily, trying to conjure her thoughts and ease herself some bit from the already troubling morning she was having.
“Get your things”, he muttered before getting to his feet. “Your mother needs you at home”.
Nora bobbed her head, walked over to her backpack and began to pack some needed item for her stay.
“Nora!’ he father called out in a stern tone.
Nora turned around slowly, almost as though she could tell something terrible was coming. She gasped and slowly clamped her hands over her mouth as the man held out the hidden tarot card he had retrieved from under her sheets. He looked dismayed somewhat, but said nothing after calling her name.
His silence definitely began to ache more than his screams or yelling would, and she found herself oddly wishing the man would talk.
“Is this what you dally in now?’ he asked with a raised brow.
Nora waved her hands fervently and bit her lower lip as she drew closer and stopped halfway.
“They are just cards, Papa”, she tried to tell him. “I just got it for personal use and nothing else”.
Muzin shot to his feet, slipped the deck of unopened cards into his pocket, and headed for the door.
“Meet me in the car!” he said.
Nora gave no response as she began packing her things in preparation for another boring few days at home with her folks.
***
Its been an hour since her arrival and nobody had mentioned anything about the tarot card her father had confiscated from her. In fact, the mood around the lunch table seemed pretty good, asides the fact that Nora continued to gloat and shoot her father some rather displeased shots.
“So, Nora, when do I get to meet your friends?” Lama, her step-mother asked.
Nora shrugged, took another spoonful of her soup and swallowed slowly.
“They never come to visit you and we never get to know anyone with you”, she continued. “Isn’t is high time we knew who our daughter roams with in college?”
She turned to her husband, who almost spilled some soup on himself while he hurriedly began to nod.
“More so, your father and I have a conference to attend for my upcoming lecture, and I was hoping we can wrap things up before we leave”, Lama added.
Nora looked up slowly, hoping what she had heard was right, as a thin smile lined her lips.
“You guys are travelling?” she asked in a somewhat perplexed and excited tone.
Muzin bobbed his head, looked at his wife, and gently nudged her cheek while she blushed endlessly. “We might be on the road for a few days or maybe a week, but we wanted to ask if you’d love to come with us on the trip as a family”.
Their sweetness and decision to drag her along felt touching, but she had seen a loophole in them leaving her behind and she wasn’t about to pass on it.
“I can get my best friends over to come see you guys”, she noted. “More so, Naomi has always wanted to visit, but I wasn’t sure on whether or not it would be a good idea”.
Lama waved the claims away and smiled. Nora had found her opening and with her renewed mood, she sunk into her soup and continued to pillage away happily. She shot her father a smile and slowly felt the smile fade away as she recalled her tarot cards.
“By the way, your father and I were speaking about what he got from your room in school today”, Lama slowly looked up with a stern expression on her face.
She laid down the spoon in her hand and shared a brief gaze with Nora’s father. Nora gulped down hard and almost felt herself choke. The signs weren’t looking favorable anymore and she prepared herself for the worst possible talk-down they could offer.
Lama sighed softly and pushed her chair back. “We have some concerns that you might not be taking Islam as seriously
