2.

He was no stranger around the neighbourhood, but everyone steered clear of him nevertheless. He was a grumpy old man waiting for death to catch up on him. And while he waited, as well as everyone else, he was out on the streets collecting cans, bottles, boxes and old pieces of clothes.

He had grey hair that fell randomly around his face and covered his nose, chin and neck, and descendants of it covered his shoulders. Thick enough to keep him warm throughout winter. She silently wondered why he never found the time to cut some of it off, even with a sharp glass.

As if he read her thoughts, he grunted and huffed as he pulled his heavy load stacked on the double compartment trolley behind him. As if his load wasn't heavy enough already, anyone could tell that the soiled denim jacket and jeans he wore were added to the weight he had to carry around.

She watched silently as he limped past her, the ropes that are supposed to be holding his baggage now hung by threads. The gust of wind brought her back to reality and she jogged the few metres left that mocked her. When she stood outside her house, she turned the knob with shaking hands in fear of coming face to face with her father.

She stepped in and the aroma immediately hit her nostrils. She relax a little when she recognised the smell of broccoli, mashed potatoes and grilled bovine. She momentarily forgot what happened.

"Ari, it's about time you showed up. Go freshen up and come quickly," her aunt, Puna, spoke softly as she made sure dinner was ready.

Her aunt's nonexistent trait of always wanting to know where she was slightly made her upset. She had just spent her time coming up with the perfect excuse. The feeling was like déjà vu. She matched the feeling to one that she always had in highschool: when she'd stay awake completing a project overnight and the teacher didn't collect it in the next day.

Not wanting to stand there doing nothing, she quickly ran upstairs to her bedroom. She didn't even get the chance to greet her father. A part of her wanted to go back downstairs and massage his feet while he asked how university was, but another didn't want to. She was scared of the type of questions he'd ask.

Her father had been adamant on her taking double full-time courses if she proceeded to the next level. She begrudgingly agreed to his will, making her the second female to reach the level she did before marriage. The first was her cousin Kanti, aunt Puna's daughter. Not necessarily first, because both girls attend university together.

After taking her shower, she changed into yellow pyjamas. Only at this time of day were they allowed to wear western clothes. This was due to an agreement her parents came to. Her mom was Iranian Arab and her father was European. The first half of the day, they lived by Arab rules, and the other half of the day by European rules.

She tied her black, long, straight hair into a ponytail and slipped into a pink pair of slippers. She walked downstairs and stalled in the hallway when she saw her father at the base of the stairs. Fear took off and bile abnormally formed in her throat. She inhaled deeply and rushed down the last stairs.

"Ari," her parents called her at the same time and she hid her smile as she walked into the kitchen to her mom instead.

"Help me with those please," her mom pointed to the tray of food as she herself carried one containing rice curry, fried peppers an beetroot. Seeing as the only tray left was the one of pumpkins, beans and carrot salad with syrup, raisins, cherries and peach slices was left, she carefully lifted it up from the kitchen island and followed suit, inhaling the aroma of veggies and exhaling the troubles she left behind.