Monthly Meeting

Sakina had stopped off at the local pharmacy on her way home from an nine hour day at the office. Handing over her credit card, Sakina glanced through the possible side effects of a new migraine medicine she had been prescribed.  She hoped these pharmaceutical warnings were extreme case scenarios and that she was being melodramatic.  But what were her options anyway? The herbal treatments she had tried for months had  been effective but her naturopath was over an hour away and she could not keep taking that much time off work. She would have to bite the bullet AND the 100 mg of Sumatriptan whenever an attack came.

As she walked through the parking lot, her cellphone buzzed. It was her newlywed niece, Zehra. The twenty something was looking for a restaurant recommendation since she and her groom were new to the area. Sakina heard a click. She asked Zehra to hold and took the other call. It was Sakina's husband. He began to explain that his contractor friend had finished painting their basement but his voice became fainter as he explained that  it wasn't the subtle midnight melody color that Sakina had picked out.  Instead it was bright yellow. The color of sunshine, daffodils and betrayal.

Soon Sakina and her husband were in the middle of a familiar argument. It did not matter which side each was taking. It was marriage. The point was that the other was wrong, that the others' feelings had been ignored and the someone had not been listened to. The contractor was incompetent and color blind. Men thought they were omniscient. Women were irrational and overly fussy. Sakina eyed the Sumatriptan package longingly.

She suddenly remembered that she had left her niece on hold. She had a good reason to hang up without sounding too angry. Her husband was a good man, a fine father and a responsible breadwinner. It was just that he did not always make the best remodeling decisions.

" We'll talk later, got to go. Zehra, Zehra, are you still there? " asked Sakina leaning against her Honda. "The halal Chinese has great food but it's basic, "said the helpful aunt. "Are you looking for something fancy?"

"Well, Khala" replied Zehra. " It is  for a celebration you see.".Sakina could hear a smile in her voice.She wondered what the couple could possibly be commemorating already.  Hadn't they just come back from their honeymoon?  A promotion?

"Well if you want something more elaborate, there's this new place in downtown Springville." Sakina proceeded to give a description of the menu, wait staff and other yelpy details.

"It's our one month anniversary you see, " spilled Zehra. "Can you believe it- already!"

 "Well that is special, " replied the Khala grinning broadly. " I would go for the white tablecloth place." The older woman looked out of the window at the darkening clouds. She did not add that she could not remember a time when she calculated anything in thirty day increments nor that she had begun measuring her own marriage in decades, wrinkles and grey hairs.

Sakina put the key into the ignition, took a swig of mineral water from the bottle she kept in her cup-holder and placed a tablet on her tongue. She savored the sweet outer covering as though she were swallowing a handful of M and Ms.

"Happy One Month Anniversary, Zehra, " she said between gulps.

"Khala, I did want to ask you a question. It's his parents. They're not that friendly."

Sakina turned off the engine, wound down her windows and leaned back in her seat. She might be sitting there a while. "Zehru, you have to make the effort yourself, love. They don't know you.  This wasn't an arranged marriage. You are going to have to stick your neck out a bit. Get gifts now and again. Call them regularly."

"What, why should I do all the hard work? " gasped the bride.

"It's just good PR and it goes a long way. Look, you're Indian. You marry the whole family too. If Kasim sees you are bending over backwards to make the family happy, it will endear you to him even more. And, you want him to be nice to your parents too right?"

A car pulled up beside her. A young mother emerged,  a mess of car seats and diaper bags.  She was holding onto a round-faced baby with large blue eyes and curly blond hair. The child took one look at Sakina and began laughing, his whole face collapsing into gurgly giggles.

Sakina put her niece on hold again and helped the mother open up an umbrella stroller. "How old is the baby? " she asked.

"Eight months and nine days." said the mom flushing.  Sakina knew this must be a first child. Who in their right mind kept track of days?

The child cooed as Sakina snapped the lock shut.  It was absurd really how friendly he was. Why- she was a complete stranger. Sakina was not the type to melt at the sight of babies but this one was making it hard for her to remain neutral.

"Oh no! Zehra!" She remembered her patient relative again.  The girl was clearly besotted and eager to do the right thing for her new groom.  Young love and babies.  They were interfering with her churlishness.

"Look Hon, " said Sakina, unmuting the phone. "Take it from me, 'Opal' will be the perfect restaurant for you. And yeah, about the in-laws, you'll be just fine if you follow my advice. I've been around a lot of months you know."