Sleepover

“YIPPPEEEE I’M SO EXCITED YOU’RE HERE WE’RE GOING TO HAVE SO MUCH FUN!!!” 

It was my first sleepover at my new best friend Saoirse’s house. I gave my mom a quick hug and stomped out the snow from my boots before walking into the warmth of their house, almost bumping into the gigantic Christmas tree with silver, red and green ornaments and an angel on top. “Wow, it’s beautiful. I wish we could have a Christmas tree,” I thought. 

“Well hello there, Khadija! It’s so nice to have you over again, and finally for a sleepover this time!” Mrs. O’Neilly said. 

“Thanks for having me over Mrs. O’Neilly,” I said with a gigantic smile. 

“Well, I’m sure you girls are hungry, so I have dinner ready. Dad is already at the table.”

The dinner table was full of food, colorful and different. “Wow, I didn’t know this is what Saoirse ate at home. I guess this is what normal food looks like,” I thought. 

I heaped a spoonful of mashed potatoes, steamed green beans and plain white rice into my plate, looking enviously at the juicy pot roast, which I couldn’t eat because it wasn’t halal. I took a bite of the green beans and mashed potatoes and frowned as the watery, dull taste filled my mouth. “Wow, this is bland,” I thought. This tasted nothing like the vegetables my family cooked at home, seasoned with garam masala, cumin and coriander. 

“Why don’t you take some protein, Khadija honey,” Mrs. O’Neilly said to me, pushing the pot roast and fat sausages towards me.  

“Oh, I’m good, thanks. I’m actually vegetarian,” I said nervously. This was a lie. I wasn’t vegetarian, I just felt awkward and embarrassed telling them that my mom forced me to eat halal. And so I shoved the tasteless mashed potatoes into my mouth, forcing a smile, and trying desperately to forget about the spicy biryani at home. 

As we ate dinner, her parents asked us the same questions about school and social life as they had the previous times I had visited. It was almost as if Saoirse’s parents followed a bulleted dinner table conversation list from Pinterest. Strange. At my house, on the rare occasion my family ate together, my brother would be glued to his computer screen while someone shoveled food in his mouth. My grandma and mom would be screaming across the room to each other about their day, and ask me if I had a hundred percent in all my classes. “We don’t have grades yet. I’m only nine,” I would remind them with a huff. It was strange to me how rigid and robotic the O’Neilly’s conversations were amongst each other. 

Once we excused ourselves from the dinner table (another strange custom to me, in my house I would just get up and leave), we went back upstairs and headed for bed, deciding to play in the morning. As I dozed off, I marvelled at how quiet and peaceful it was … almost too quiet. I thought I would enjoy the silence, but I tossed and turned throughout the night, longing to hear the familiar voices of my home. At this time, my grandma would have been on the phone with her friends while blasting the Pakistani news channel, Geo TV, to catch the morning headlines. Finally, a peaceful night’s rest for me…

The next morning, I woke up with a headache. The eerie silence of her house was unusual to me, so I didn’t get much sleep. Saoirse helped me pack my pink cupcake pajamas and toothbrush into my backpack. I was sad to leave Saoirse’s house, but was ready to return to the familiar chaos of my own home. 

When I got downstairs, my mom was already waiting for me by the big green Christmas tree, chatting away with Mrs. O’Neilly. I might have wanted to go back home soon but my mom wanted me back even sooner. We got into the car, and with a big sigh, I told my mom all about the watery green beans and bland mashed potatoes I had for dinner the night before. 

Ten minutes later, I opened the door to my house. The smell of onions and spices hit me like a wave and made my eyes water. My brother’s Spongebob Squarepants video filled my ears. My grandma walked over with her phone at her ear and a plate of biryani in her hand. “Khadija, eat this, you’re so thin, they starved you there,” she said in a tone much louder than it needed to be.

Home sweet home.