Edited:

Published: Wednesday, November 4th 2015 2:18pm

Jafar:
September 29th

When I was younger, I used to love birthdays. Everyone in my house did, but I had it the worst. It was an annual tradition to do something extravagant, even if part of the family wasn't there. From traveling to that persons chosen place, or one randomly, but always special. Birthdays were always taken very seriously, just like most traditions. But when I was around eight, that special part died with the realization that only a few of my wishes would come true on that day. My sisters had already given up hope for the reason as I did, but the difference between us is that they continued the traditions. I stopped. It didn't feel right to do it when the one thing you wanted didn't come true.

It was a couple of days before we went to Disney World, I was all excited to ride the rides, even though my sisters teased me about liking Disney. I've always wanted to see what it was like. Zahrah and Tehreem were the ones who loved it, and I wanted to do something to make us all happy. And I wanted everyone to come. But, sadly, that never happened....

Jafar 8 yrs...

"Remind me why you want to go see a bunch of princesses?" Tehreem asked mid way through laughter, catching Zahrah's gaze as they both teased me.

"I want to ride the rides!" I exclaimed and pointed a finger at them both. "Don't judge me."

"We're not," Zahrah defended, placing a dramatic hand over her heart. "It's just...weird."

"Alright girls, that's enough," Ummi walked into the room, smiling brightly at us. "We have to get going. We have a ride ahead of us. No pun intended."

We all laughed at that and continued to get out things together.

"When is Abu coming?" I asked her excitedly, while lacing up my shoe. She smiled sweetly at me, picking up her phone and dialing with one hand.

"I was just about to call him."

I watched as she let it ring, not letting it show that she was worried he might not be there, or answer for that matter. I was worried too. He rarely attended anything we did, and when he was there, it wasn't the same. And then, all of a sudden, her eyes lit up as he came on the line.

"Wa Salaams. The kids and I are ready. When will you be here?" There was a pause on the line that couldn't have been more than a few seconds, but it felt like hours. It was one where all you knew was that it was bad. And when Ummi pursed her lips with a deep frown, nodding and saying 'yes' every once in a while, I just knew it.

"Okay," She turned to Zahrah, motioning for her to go into the other room with Tehreem and I, but I didn't budge. I wanted to know what he said. "Go," She mouthed, but I shook my head. Ummi let out a deep sigh and went towards the kitchen, me following behind slowly. "Yes, I hear you, but don't tell me to understand, Sadiq. You can't keep doing this. I won't let you..." There was another pause before she rolled her eyes, the tears glistening in them. "I'm done," She declared and I froze. Never before had she been this angry. "Well, deal with it," And then she hung up.

That was when it all went bad. And a few weeks later, they were divorced, but he never fought for my sisters and I. Not once did he ask how we felt about it--neither of them did--an explanation from our father would have been nice. Not long after, they both remarried and had new children. Me and my sisters were upset and hurt that they basically replaced us, but we got over that with the newfound love of our step parents and Ummi. But he never showed much interest. He was there most days, but less days than most. And for that I can't forgive.

-*-
Ayah:

"We have everything on the list?"

I looked down at the notepad in my hand, skimming over the things that haven't been checked off yet.

"No!" Jamila's faint voice exclaimed, then she emerged from the storage room, a tiara in hand. "But look what I found."

I frowned at her. She was supposed to be looking for old pictures, but instead she found a plastic tiara. Great...

"Jamie, what happened to the albums?"

"I got distracted. And look," She pointed to the number on the side. "It's from when I was three."

I squinted my eyes to read the writing on the side, then smirked at her, while doing my best to hold in laughter. "Uh, Jamie?"

She kept her eyes glued to the front of the tiara as she answered me. "Yes, Ayah."

"Did you check the name on the side?"

She pursed her lips, shaking her head at me. "Who else would have this? I loved princesses when I was younger."

I came forward, taking the tiara from her. "You're not the only one. See," I pointed to the name on the side. "It says Reemi. As in Tehreem."

With a scowl, Jamila took it from me and threw it back in the storage room. "Well, now it's neither of ours. What's next?"

After I got over the slight, silent laughing fit, I flipped the page over. "The, uh, cake. Abi said he'll pick it up, and the only thing left is guests."

We then made our way back down the stairs towards the kitchen, where Um Jafar was crocheting baby items for baby Rahil.

"Salaam," Jamila and I said in unison, then took a seat on the couch. "Is Zahrah coming?"

"Only she and the baby," Um Jafar said sadly. "I do wish she could bring the girls."

"I don't," Jamila muttered, and I kicked her leg before returning to the list.

"Next is getting him here without suspecting a thing. Since his birthday is on a Saturday, we will have the party Sunday and call it a family get together."

"Good thinking," Um Jafar smiled, and continued with her crocheting.

"Can you get him here without him suspecting?" Jamila asked.

I let out a nervous laugh. "I'll try. But since he's been so distracted lately, I doubt he'll even notice."

Um Jafar looked over to me in concern. "Why is he distracted. Not worrying about the baby, I hope."

"No," I quickly denied. "It's..." I snuck a hinting look at Jamila. "...Personal reasons."

Um Jafar seemed to pick up in the hint and turned to Jamila. "Can you take the clothes out of the dryer and then put the clothes in the washer in the dryer."

Jamila laughed nervously and stood up. "I have no idea what I'm about to do, but it has something to do with clothes. Okay..."

We both shook our heads at her, to which she shrugged. Once she was out of sight, Um Jafar came to sit next to me, and placed her hands in mine.

"It's his father."

Three words said and she seemed to understand. She wasn't suprised, nor upset. It's more like she was expecting me to say that.

"I heard of his...illness, and I was wondering how Jafar was doing. He's been so busy that I couldn't get a word in at all."

"I know. It's like he put all of his time into basketball. It's eating him alive."

"I figured as much," She sighed. "But I get why he's like this. His father wasn't there at a vital part of his life. And now they're both paying for it."

"What can I do to help?"

She shrugged. "Be there for him, but don't push him to much. It'll make it worse. But..." She paused and cleared her throat. She was debating about saying anything. "Jafar took the divorce way harder than his sisters. He was younger and confused as to why his parents no longer wanted to be together. Yes Mr. Ibrahim wasn't there as much as he should have been, but I know it was because he was guilty and couldn't face them."

"What about all the times he ignored him and acted like he didn't exist."

She smiled sadly at me. "No one is perfect, yet Jafar wanted his father to be. He's angry with him, not because he was barely there, but because that's the only thing he's known how to do. And that's not good."

"I want to help him, I do, but he won't even go see if he's okay."

"I doubt he will. But I think it's time for him to give up the hate; he's very overdue for forgiving. Allah knows that it's going to take everything out of him to do so."

-*-

Jafar:

"Nice work boys! Bring it in."

All the boys came rushing towards Jake, waiting to hear what he had to say, while I was sat on the bleachers, drawing up a few plays from our days on the court. It felt so weird to be in this position again, but still right. Like it was meant to be. And the distraction from everything is well appreciated.

"We have a few scrimmages coming up. So, work on the plays, stay in shape and away from partying. I don't need to hear that one of my players got caught with a DUI."

I chuckled at that, remebering the good ole days with Coach Wilkes. He gave the same pep talk his son is saying now. While it was in a slight joking manner, everyone knew he was serious and to not let down the team. We didn't just play on the team together, we were brothers.

"Okay, go shower the unbearable stench from yourselves, and then you can go."

Once all the boys rushed to the locker rooms, Jake let out a deep groan, then came to sit next to me. We haven't really spoken a lot of the old times, but we were speaking. He was still Jake, and I Jafar, to an extent. We both had things we didn't want to disclose with the other, and we were fine with that.

"I don't know if we'll be ready by the season. They are only giving half of what they gave last year."

"With a lot of coaching, they'll be fine," He reassured him, drawing up the last bit of our old play and passing him the board. "Here."

"Dads old play," Hs said after a while, smiling at the board, no doubt thinking of coach.

"It's a classic," I told him. "This play was designed to defeat."

He turned to me, a big smile on his face. "You remembered this?"

I nodded. "I did. It was thee best one out of my four years of playing. Just like coach, it would never let you down."

We continued to go over some changes due to last minutes donations for the team, before we finally packed up and went our separate ways. What I wanted now was to just go home with Ayah and relax; I can worry about my father some other time. As I made it in front of my parents house, I turned off the car, then ran a hand over my face before going inside.

"Jafar," Ummi greeted, a smile on her face as she saw me. "Come in, come in. I just made some tea."

"That sounds delicious," I praised, and went to sit down at the kitchen table. "Where's Ayah?"

"She went for a walk."

"A walk?" I verified, and she nodded. I stood up. "Where?"

She placed a hand on my shoulder and pushed me back down. "She'll be back soon. Quit coddling her."

"I'm not," I defended, but she just smirked."

"Right. You don't." She placed a mug in front of me before taking her place beside me. "But, anyways, I wanted to talk to you."

I took a sip and regarded her carefully. "What about?"

She cleared a throat and lifted her mug. "Your father."

I stiffened at the subject, my mannerism of anger coming back. Not at my my mother, but because of the conversation we are about to have.

"Jafar, I want to apologize to you."

I scrunched my eyebrows in confusion, eying her warily. Why would she be apologizing to me?

"I am part of the reason why you have such a bad relationship with your father. If we hadn't split up and made things so hard for you and your sisters, you wouldn't have this hate for him," I was about to protest, but she held her hand up. "Don't talk. Just listen. You were eight at the time, and seeing your family fall apart so quickly--I'm sorry it happened, Habibi. But you need to stop burdening yourself with something that happened over ten years ago. You need to move on."

"He treated us so badly," I told her, but she just shook her head.

"No one is perfect. Not even him. Not even you. But you can be better. You can become someone other than him."

I groaned. "I wish everyone would stop telling me that."

She gave me a small smile. "Maybe you should take the advice given to you. After all, it is the truth."

-*-
Ayah:

I stood on the porch of the house, slightly nervous for what I am about to do. I feel like I am over stepping my boundaries more than I already have, but I can't let this go on. It's not right. Seconds later, the door swung open to reveal the one person I've been looking for.

"Ayah? What're you doing here."

"Hello. I was wondering if we could talk?"

He gave a slight laugh. "I don't think that's such a good idea."

"Well, I do," I stated, taking him back a little. "Now, if I can have at most ten minutes..."

"Ayah, it's not..."

"Please, Mr. Ibrahim. Believe it or not, I'm here for both of you."

-*-
Random question: How is everyone doing this fine day/night?

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