Shabnam put the hairbrush down by the mirror and looked at herself. “Father,” she said, “you would be very pleased with me.”
He certainly looked pleased in the photo. Next to the mirror. He was wearing a new suit, standing tall, beaming and looking very proud. Shabnam was standing at his side, her graduation hat on her head and the academic gown. That had been a happy day. Just six months before he died.
Shabnam lingered for a moment, then looked up at the light coming through the window. It was late afternoon. “I wonder if my friend will come and visit me again?” she wondered. She crossed her room, opened the door onto the balcony and stepped over to the handrail.
Down below in the courtyard her aunt was squatting on the big paving stones cleaning rice. Tossing and tossing it up, and picking out the stones. And her step-uncle was there. Sitting behind her aunt, his big hard hands on the armrests and he was looking directly up at Shabnam. Looking hard. Shabnam felt her stomach go cold. In his eyes was a strange unfamiliar look. As though he was demanding something. A jolt of panic swept over her and she jerked her gaze away and up to the blue sky. And there they were. The neighbour’s pigeons. Circling and speeding over the housetops.
Then as she looked one of the birds dropped out of the group and turned towards Shabnam. It came straight to her; down, down in a flapping spiral and landed heavily next to her on the handrail. It adjusted its feathers with a shrug.
“Hello my friend,” she murmured. “You’ve come again.” Slowly she reached down for a piece of bread she’d left there and broke some off. Carefully she placed it near the bird and softly stepped back. The pigeon shuffled forward and ate it! Shabnam smiled and slowly moved more bread along the handrail. Closer and closer to the bird.
Suddenly there was a loud crash! “Girl!”
Shabnam gasped and grabbed the handrail. The bird flew up into the air. Down below, the chair was lying upended. And her uncle was standing up, looking straight at her, his face twisted and wild. “Girl,” he yelled. “What are you doing!” He was suddenly very very angry. He could barely speak. He jabbed his huge finger towards her and took a step forward. “Who are you sending a message to with that bird? I know what you’re doing, you, you…Who is the boy!”
Shabnam felt her legs give way. She clutched the handrail harder. She tried to speak, to say No Uncle, there was no message, no boy. But she couldn’t get any words out. Her mouth opened and closed. Sweat broke out on her forehead.
Down below her uncle yelled, “I’ll teach you a lesson, girl!” And he stormed out of sight under the balcony. she could hear him pounding up the wooden stairs. Two at a time. Thump thump thump.
He burst onto the other end of the balcony and marched towards Shabnam. She pressed back against the handrail. But there was no escape. Her uncle was on her now, be raised his big hand and…
What happened next happened very quickly, Shabnam said later. But she saw everything. Clearly. There was a sudden flapping and loud noise. It was the pigeon! It crashed onto the handrail. Right next to her uncle. He half turned and swung his hand at the bird, to smash it away.
And as he did, in an instant, the bird became an undisguised jinn! had the body of a bird but a head like a strange animal with yellow eyes, a pointed nose and aa great mouth full of savage teeth. The man’s arm swung down and the jinn jumped towards him. It grabbed the arm with its teeth. The uncle yelled and crashed onto the handrail. The jinn jerked backwards and the man folded across the handrail. The little bird-jinn tugged and tugged back. And then her uncle was falling. Falling down. With his head first! He smashed onto the courtyard. His head split open. Rice scattered everywhere. Her aunt cried, “Husband!” A bird flew into the sky. And the body of Shabnam’s uncle lay in a twisted heap like dead snake. Nothing moved.
After the story
Did you like that? Was it interesting? Was there something particular that was interesting? Do you know of situations like that? What do you notice in the story that is true about people? Some stories will show us something about who God is or how He interacts with us; did you see anything in this story like that?
The Scriptures
“The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them; the cords of their sins hold them fast.
For lack of discipline they will die, led astray by their own great folly.” Proverbs 5.22,23