Surprise

 

Scene 3: Surprise:

 

 

"And if doesn't work?" she said with a sniff, staring at her brother with swollen eyes and a reddish nose. The mother stood beside her with a comforting hand silently patting her shoulder.

 

"If it doesn't work, I'll…let the doctor know." It was difficult forging a 'let's keep things simple' smile at those keen, eleven-year-old brown eyes.

 

"You were the one who promised it was going to be okay." She said in a bitter tone emphasizing the 'okay' part.

 

Why me…? He internally whined, "For God's Sake, Nara, bringing the deranged doctor here was Ma's idea. Not mine. Could you by any chance turn some of these glares towards her direction now?"

 

That was not a smart move. "Shame on you!" the mother placed both hands on her hips and joined Nara in a glaring duet, "A well-behaved girl never glares at her parents, Jad."

 

"But she said--"

 

"Nara, habeebty (honey)" she warmly told her, "If this repairing medicine doesn't restore your hair in one night like Farfoor promised, I'll tell him to work on it right away, okay? Don't you worry one bit. And until then, you can skip the two coming school days." Nara finally unlocked her eyes from her brother's and weakly nodded, leaning towards her mother's half open arms. Jad smiled and nodded along; He knew she had a big heart even if he sometimes faltered with words, "Also, Jad will be denied this month's allowance." Strike the last sentence…She was serious.

 

"What!? Why?" he sadly protested. Nara looked up at him, her head half buried in her mother's chest, she was not smiling, traces of faded tears still on her cheeks, but Jad was sure she internally beamed at the news. This was one of the situations were he wished he weren't such a lazy fat a*s and thought carefully about the job opportunities offered in Ivory Mall before he turned them down. I was going to miss money…badly, he thought.

 

"That's for being a bad influence on your sister." Her son didn't argue. It would only stir another scrap. The mother talked to Nara about wearing her cute bonnet until her hair grows again. Jad turned half around to walk away when the doorbell rang, "Oh, this must be our delivery. I couldn't think of anything for lunch today, so I ordered pizza." Mm…Pizza? Maybe things wouldn't get any worse, he thought. After all, it had been a few hours since they had breakfast.

 

"It's cool, I'll get it." he said merrily heading to the door.

 

The mother searched both pockets of her light coat and loudly sighed, "I forgot my wallet on the coat hanger, and I'm just too tired to climb to stairs; all that jumble in the morning and the doctor appointment and--"

 

"I think I might have some change left from yesterday's outing." Nara said, slipping one hand into the right pocket of her pale jeans.

 

"Oh, good." the mother said in relief, "I'll go and set the table."

 

However, as he pushed the doorknob and pulled it backwards, it was not the delivery guy behind the wooden rectangle.

 

One year older than Jad was, which made him already a college freshman, but because of certain circumstances last winter, he and Jad now shared the same classes; tall and confident, with light brown skin and honey-colored eyes, thick short curls of brownish hair, and an impatient, immaturely teasing attitude which girls found naturally charming.

 

"Ah, Dujaun?" the mother said in a very welcoming tone as she distributed plain white platters on the table in the kitchen corner.

 

"Hey, Mrs. Esraa." He readily said, "Thanks for the invite."

 

"I'm glad you came. It's almost lunch time. Make yourself at home, habeeby." She was so engaged in the invitation Dujaun accepted that she completely neglected the risky surroundings…wait, Jad internally frowned, I know he was a good friend of mine and all, but she invited him…at a time like that?

 

 He turned towards the younger boy with a grin, "Surprise!" lifting his open palms up and yanking him close enough to easily tackle his upper limbs so he can freely tousle his hair. Jad winced demanding to be set free, not realizing what just happened until Dujaun moved aside and stared blankly at the bald girl across the hall, who dropped the bit of paper and coin money from her hands as she too stood frozen, staring back at him in equal shock. Nara, whom Jad could never remember catching in an 'I'm not in the mood to fix my hair' look now appeared completely bald in front of the cool friend of her brother who wore baggy pants and a funky hat. Aw, man...why did I have to be the one to open the door?

 

Dujaun's finger slowly rose to point at her, his head slightly tilting towards his friend's direction as he opened his mouth, "Uh..." Jad said before he could speak, "We-We'll er…" he tugged Dujaun's shirt once turning him towards the open door, "take a walk outside until the pizza arrives." disappearing from sight as he shut the door behind them.

 

"Any minute now," Jad muttered loudly, taking a quick glance at the digital wristwatch, a few moments before Nara's hair-raising, long scream boomed through the sitting room window and into the entire block. Dujaun winced briefly once, still looking for words to say as he stood by the green ivy draping around the frontyard fence. Another old woman and her son were walking past our yard, both of them turning their heads to the sitting room window, where the Frankenstein atmosphere drifted with the moment. 

 

"S**t!" was all Dujaun said, not making any effort to suppress the laughter of amusement.

 

Jad slightly scowled, "Dujaun, it's not funny."

 

"What's not funny?" he asked in between the laughs, his motor of glee still trying to slow down

 

"What you saw just now." The younger boy sighed, one palm swabbing his forehead and across his hair. This morning's been an unwanted racket and now he was dragged into it. Nice.

 

"What did I see just now anyway?" Dujaun did not wait for an answer, "I mean… F**k! Your sister has no hair!" the thrill in his tone and the honey brown eyes seemed as if the past hours had been a drag and this last incident had added a buzz to his day.

 

"Yeah. You noticed?" Jad dryly said.

 

"What happe--"

 

"Look, your timing sucks, alright? Let's hangout some other day. See ya." he turned half around to the door path before the couple of stone stairs.

 

"Whoa, whoa. Hold on a second, Blue Head. Who said anything about hanging out with you?" What? Jad raised an eyebrow, "I'm here for the pizza." Dujaun admitted with a grin.

 

Yeah, right. Jad internally griped. He knew his friend loved junk food as much as he did, but he didn't believe Dujaun was here for that reason. Also, it's not like his budget was tight this month and he'd missed pizza, his dad was the head of so many companies Jad wouldn't be surprised if he turned out to be the owner of a pizza store or two in this town.

 

"Fat liar," The younger boy told him, "You're not here to eat. You've got so much time on your hands you probably just got so bored, robotically strolled down the street and decided to stop by and annoy me."

 

"Wow, someone sounds a bit edgy today." And someone else sounded a bit too cool about it!  "Now, I'm more curious to know what happened in there."

 

"Well, if you insist," Jad submissively said, "My mother asked that crazy doctor for help with Nara's hair, and it didn't end well."

 

"Why? What was wrong with her hair?" Just when I thought I was pro with words, each sentence dragged another question.

 

"Uh, dandruff or something, I dunno." he lied, narrowing his eyes and lightly scratching his head. It would be bothersome if the older boy started making jokes about lice invading Jad's hair.

 

"Nah, dandruff isn't that serious." Dujaun skeptically said, "She must have caught lice or something like it to make her ask for magical help," Heh, Jad intensely studied him through the edge of his ordinary brown as his friend paused inwardly guessing, how would he know about that? It's not like any of his filthy rich family should ever worry about such issues. Dujaun chuckled as he thought for a moment, "but to think that even a person like her could--"

 

"Yeah, yeah…" Jad hastily interrupted in a drab tone, "a hygiene-freak catching hair lice. How ironic. And you're pretty good at guessing, but you should leave now. We still have a mess to deal with inside."

 

"Maybe I could bring some help too? My aunt knows this Black Guardian--"

 

"No." Jad firmly said motioning his hands, "No more hocus-pocus people!"

 

Dujaun raised his head up towards their residence; the sound of Nara weeping faintly seeped through her open bedroom windowpane.

Author's Note

Comments? Reviews?

*Image Title: Surprised
*by ~ahemjez
*Link: http://ahemjez.deviantart.com/art/Surprised-33651256?q=boost%3Apopular%20surprised&qo=15

Reviews

[Dr Jack Edward Effron]

Well-written. I like your use of bold although most publication editors probably would not.
The concept - how Arab immigrants live in America (?) - is interesting and topical now. I wonder if you will show the effects of post-2016 nationalism on them.
Correct in grammar and spelling.
Plot in this Chapter is weak. It is "post-hair-loss" but nothing actually happens here. You should bond this conversation with some new event ("what happens next") to keep interest.