"Don’t worry, you will be
fine" Gani said looking through the windows to see what the situation was.
She was about to say another thank you sir as she has been saying since the
inviting door opened for her, when Gani hushed her to silence and signaled to her
to stoop low. Then he tiptoed to her and gently sneaked her into his bedroom
and hid her in his wardrobe. "Stay here and don’t make a sound"
As
Gani was about to close the two-way door of his wardrobe, a loud knock sounded
on his front door. Rabi widely opened her mouth and eyes in fear but Gani's
stern look assured her that all she needed to do was to be silent. Being silent
wouldn’t be enough anyway for Rabi. Gani is a Muslim, at least she saw the Holy
Quran and the Arabic writings on the walls. And more, she had earlier revealed
her religious identity to him. So she was sandwiched between being silent and
praying against 'what ifs'. Gani went and opened the door. A group of four
young boys dashed in. Their "al salam aleikum" greetings was followed immediately with
a question of whether an infidel was hiding nearby or inside his apartment. Rabi
heard their question from her hiding place. Her father had told her some
stories of how some Muslims in the past had pretended to help some fleeing
Christians during some of the riots, only to give them away to their
assailants. She heard them whisper in small voices, then a laughter among them
and then a suspecting silence. Rabi had concluded that Gani was now tiptoeing
like he did before but this time towards the wardrobe to give her away to the
rioters. She wanted to open the wardrobe and run. At least, it would be better
to try than stay there and die.
She was sure that the rioters were still in the
room as she didn’t hear the door close. Before she could arrive at a decision,
the wardrobe doors were thrown ajar. Her heart jumped into her mouth, but
slowly returned to its rightful cavity when she saw the young man who had opened
the door for her standing alone in front of her. "They have
gone. I had to leave the door open after they left so that they will not
look back and suspect foul play". He told her this, unintentionally solving her
bewilderment of not hearing the door close. She stayed in his house till
nightfall before he ensured that she got home safely.
photo credit: cecilimages.photoshelter.com
(culled from my developing story: CAUGHT UP IN THE CROSSFIRE)
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