By Sarah Zahaf
It was time to get ready
Teeth brushed and faces washed, we switched on our bedside lights
Prepped to be in bed by 8:30
Mama and Baba came in to wish us good night
–
Right as they left, Jida walked in
With a stack of books reaching the skies
“Let’s give these stories a spin”
And excitement lit up in our eyes
–
We all ran to our bed
Pillows propped upright, us laying beneath our blankets
She laid out the books end to end
And showed us all the stories enchanted
–
“This one! No, this one! No, this one!”
Each choice contradictory
On which seemed most exciting and fun
“How about this one? It seems like a mystery!”
–
Ah! A Thousand and One Nights
Its cover littered with stars, buildings and characters
Blue, black and gold, so dark yet so bright
My eyes grazed across, ready to listen to the stories together
–
Jida flipped open the book, starting to read, and into the stories we sail
“Aladdin’s Wonderful Lamp,” “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves”
“The Fisherman and the Jinni,” each one a different tale
All 200 stories, one each night, all of which we receive
–
I watched her as she took the time
Line by line, one by one, story by story
The magic in her voice, still sublime
Through generations of retelling, such a glory
–
“Jida?” I hear and I open my eyes
My own granddaughter along with her two brothers are calling for me
8:30 on the dot, “Yes habibti, I’m coming” and I rise
I tuck them in their beds, one, two and three
–
I bring the same stack of books and lay them out on the bed
My granddaughter reaches for one without delay
For the one we have already read, the one at the end
The one I recognize straight away
–
With A Thousand and One Nights in hand
I watch my grandchildren and see joy
The same joy I had, I come to understand
Retelling the same story told to me by my Jida, something I enjoy
–
As I remember her words, I’m smitten
Her words like music to my ears, in what seemed like a lifetime
I look at my own three grandchildren
“Are you ready for story time?”
Sarah Zahaf is a Chinese-Algerian writer and a student studying International Relations and English at the American University of Sharjah. She is passionate about diversity in culture, arts and literature.
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