Chapter 1- Yadleen (Only Chance)

Chapter 1- Yadleen

   It was dusk while I sat outside. The sky was pink. There were no clouds in sight. I relaxed with my chadr on. "I'm getting married tomorrow." I thought to myself. Tears began to come out of my eyes. I would've liked to marry a man my age. I was going to marry someone named Ahmed. How old was he? He was sixty. I tried to protest with my parents, but it didn't work. Could I have run away? No. Could I have chosen to marry someone my age? No. If I would've ran away, I could've been killed.

   This was the last day of freedom. The last day seeing the desert.

   Once the sky was dark, we could eat. Ramadan was the hardest time of the year. We could'nt eat when the sun was up for a month.

   The sun finally was gone and the moon was shining.

   "Yadleen, dinner!" mama called me. I ran to the house eager to eat some food.

   As we all sat down at the table, we decided to pray. Hearing Arabic and Punjabi Islamic prayers made me stop worrying about tomorrow. After my dad finished one last prayer in Urdu, we started to eat. I'm so greatful to be able to read, speak and write three languages. There are very few girls' schools open here in Pakistan.

   "How do you feel Yadleen?" dad asked me.

   "Okay." I said lying to him. I was feeling far from okay now.

   "We must go to Lahore in the morning."

   "My stuff is packed."

   "Good."

   "Yadleen, are you nervous?" my younger sister, Abinaash asked.

   "Yes, very nervous." tears came to my eyes, but I tried to fight them. The best part of that day was eating chapatis and lentils.

   "Yadleen and Abinaash, you two must get some sleep for the Lahore trip." mama said after we both finished dinner.

   "Okay mama. Goodnight mama. Goodnight dad. Goodnight Abinaash."

   "Goodnight everyone." Abinaash said. We huried to our room to go to sleep. I laid down and started to cry.

   "What's wrong Yadleen?" Abinaash asked.

   "I don't want to marry Ahmed."

   "I wouldn't want to either, but we're poor and Ahmed's rich. You'll live Yadleen." I thought about the clever thing she had said.

   "Abinaash, he could marry you next. I'll be his third wife and you could be his last wife." I regreted saying that to an eleven year old getting married next year.

   "I always fear that. If he wanted to, could he wait a year?"

   "Probably he could. He already would have Gurdaya, Akalbir, and me." Gurdaya and Akalbir were his current wives. Islamic laws said that a man can have up to four wives.

   "The good thing about marrying him would be that I'd be at the same house as you."

   "That is a good thing."

   "I heard Lahore is a big city."

   "Yes, it is. I heard that the havelis are huge."

   "Also, the baazars. We could get some new chadrs and shalwar kameez."

   "See, there is a little bright side to this marriage."

   "I will ask mama and dad if I could marry Ahmed next year. Not for him, but for Lahore and living with you at his haveli."

   "Be careful though. We don't know if his wives are nice or mean."

   "True. We should get some sleep for the trip."

   "Yes we should. Goodnight Abinaash."

   "Goodnight Yadleen." I thought about the bright side of the marriage. "Was my younger sister wiser than me? If anything bad happened, could we escape together?" those questions kept popping up in my head. Finally, I drifted to sleep feeling happy and sad.

  

  

  

Author's Note

ignore spelling problems