Read Online Mud City by Deborah Ellis - Free Book Online Page A

to catch her breath. She gently touched her
     finger to the blue-flowered wallpaper, then felt the smoothness of the tile.
    There was a mirror over the sink. She walked over and looked into it.
    She didn’t recognize the head that stared back
     at her. It had been years since she had seen her face. The room she had shared with her
     family in Kabul had no mirror.
    In her mind, she was still a schoolgirl in a uniform with long dark hair
     that curled up at the end. But the face that looked back at her now was older than she
     remembered. It was longer and the cheeks were hollower. Shauzia wondered who this girl
     was.
    There were noises downstairs as the boys came back into the house. Shauzia
     heard Jasper’s feet running up the stone staircase and whimpering outside the
     bathroom door. She left her reflection and let him in.
    “You don’t care what I look like, do you, Jasper?” His
     wagging tail made her feel better.
    She shucked her filthy clothes and got into the shower. She turned on the
     taps and let the hot water stream over her body. The soap smelled of flowers and spices.
     She lathered and rinsed, lathered and rinsed, washing the grime and stink off her
     body.
    “Why don’t you join the children in the garden?” Barbara
     suggested when Shauzia appeared in the kitchen dressed in a woman’sshalwar kameez. It felt great to be clean and dressed in clean
     clothes. Her skin smelled good, like the soap. Barbara handed her a glass of cold milk.
     “Dinner will be ready soon.”
    Shauzia and Jasper went into the garden where the boys were playing. One
     boy had a truck the other boy wanted, and they started to argue. Shauzia didn’t
     like to look at them. They were chubby with good health, and their laughter and arguing
     hurt her ears.
    She tasted the milk. It was smooth and good. She poured some into the palm
     of her hand and held it out to Jasper.
    “Let me do that!” one of the boys yelled, and they both
     crowded in on her, eager and demanding. Shauzia leaned back to get away from them, but
     they kept pressing in on her.
    She was rescued by Tom, who called them all in to supper.
    “Shauzia, you sit here.” Barbara pulled out a chair for her at
     the long wooden table. In front of her was a bright yellow plate and shining cutlery. On
     the table were platters of chicken and bowls of vegetables. Barbara poured her another
     glass of milk while Tom supervised the boys as they washed their hands.
    “Have you used a fork before?” Barbara
     asked.
    Shauzia nodded. Many Afghans ate with their fingers, but her family had
     been very modern. They had lost all their cutlery in a bombing and ate with their
     fingers after that, but Shauzia still remembered how to eat with a fork.
    She watched Tom and Barbara put napkins on their laps, and she did the
     same.
    Once she started eating, she didn’t think she could stop. At first
     she tried to copy the adults and use her fork properly, but that was too slow, so she
     used her fingers, too. She ignored everything except the food. Barbara kept refilling
     her plate, and Shauzia ate it all, without really distinguishing between chicken, rice
     or vegetables.
    When she started to get full, she remembered to save some food for the
     next day. The napkin came in handy for that.
    “Do you still have room for dessert?” Barbara asked, placing a
     bowl of chocolate ice cream in front of her.
    “I want ice cream!” the smaller boy, Jake, whined.
    “Eat your carrots first,” Barbara
     said.
    “No!”
    “Eat just one bite of carrot,” Tom said.
    Shauzia watched as Jake, frowning, put the tiniest piece of carrot into
     his mouth. Barbara took his plate away and replaced it with ice cream. Shauzia eyed the
     food that was still on the plate as Barbara carried it to the kitchen, then turned her
     attention to her ice cream.
    It was so good, she picked up her bowl and licked up the remains of
     it.
    “Paul, put your bowl down,” Tom said to the older