Zainab dropped herself onto the mattress. Her hands were sore and blistery and had a faint smell of the lemon laundry powder she had selected from the sale at the bazaar. Her eyes automatically moved towards her children, who sat in front of the fan, pulling faces and looking at their reflection in the metal. Musa’s eyes caught hers, and he hurriedly stood up and ran to his mother, embracing her into a tight hug.
“Mum, I’m hungry. When will you make food?” he questioned grumpily.
'Soon, just wait until your papa gets home. Go and play with Aisha, and don’t let her peel the tape off the fan. It’ll break and we’ll all suffer in the heat”, she added.
Musa ran off, tearing a part of his mother’s soul as she stared at his scrawny figure. Her husband was a shoe polisher, and the few rupees he earnt were used to buy minimal necessities. What he earnt just wasn’t enough to buy food for the family, and there were many nights where the family slept with empty and growling stomachs.
Zainab wanted to work too, so that she could also bring in some cash to help support the family and provide her children with basic requirements, but her husband held a different opinion.
“Are you crazy? You should be at home taking care of the children and cleaning the house. What will people think when they find out you work? The husband can’t provide for the family so the wife works? We should all rather die than face this shame!” he had once replied angrily when she brought up this topic.
There were many times when she tried to argue, but to no avail. Zainab woke up from these thoughts, and continued to clean around the house until Fareed, her husband, opened the door and entered the house. She pushed herself up, drying her hands with her top, and rushed to him, ready to serve the family with the long awaited dinner. Instead, Fareed shook his head in disappointment and made his way to the room. Zainab dropped her head and just couldn’t make herself meet the eyes of Aisha, who stared with high hopes at her mother for something to eat.
Zainab knew what to do. She would cross all limits to feed her family, even if it meant disobeying the orders of her husband and ignoring the reprimands of society. She just couldn’t see her children suffering anymore, even when she knew she was capable of doing more for them.
