Page 39 - 2019 Priory MUSE Magazine

cautiously sipping the coffee, savoring its dark flavor, followed by the sound of gulping down the now room-temperature coffee. The garage was filled with peace, and only the soft slurping noise from the coffee. After another minute of this silence and sipping, the garage came back to life and time unfroze.
Women hustled in circles gossiping, and bursting into laughter or tears occasionally, and the men tapped their feet to the beat of the Arabic music which filled the garage. The instant Rula spotted a drained coffee cup, she would scurry over to the kettle and offer more coffee to that person, never taking “no thank you” for an answer. She would always convince them they wanted more coffee, and complain that it would go to waste. Ifthatdidnotwork,shewouldpour some into their cup when they turned their back on her to play their turn in backgammonorsneeze. Escapingthescene as fast as she could, Rula would find her next empty-coffee-cup-victim, and begin ranting about how the coffee would go to waste. This continued on until the kettle was completely empty, with not one drop of the darkliquidremaining. Rulawouldsuggest that she make some more coffee, and the room would erupt in several exclamations such as: “No more Habibti!” and “Sit down Habibti, take a break!!” and “I can’t have anymore I will explode!”
After arguing for a minute, Rula would succumb to their protests, and sit upright on theedgeofherseat,waitingforsomethingto
do. Teta--grandmother--would then insist they change the television channel so she could watch her Arabic soap operas and all the men would groan. But, Teta was their mother, so they slowly filed out of the garage to gamble someplace else. As if the hookahs might magically disappear upon their return, the four brothers and their cousins would slowly inhale as much smoke as they could, then scurry out of the garage before Teta complained she could not hear the TV and shushed them for being too loud. Seconds after the men left the room, one could hear laughs, “hellos,” and loud smooches followed by giggles and playful screams of children. “No more kisses Umo!” one child squeaked, followed by “ahhh Celia run from the ‘Kissy- Monster’!!!”
The garage door suddenly burst open and four children ran into the room, being chased by their Umos--uncles--who had just stepped out of the room. “I’m gonna get you!” exclaimed a man with salt and pepper hair and pale, grey eyes. A little chubby girl with bright red hair shrieked and ran around the garage, hiding behind her aunties. Her cartoon-like, glossy eyes were wide as she crouched behind Teta, her grandmother.
“Teta helppp! Umo is attacking us with kisses” she whispered with excited eyes into her grandmother's wrinkled ear, which droopedslightlyfromherlargeearring. Umo Issam grinned, and slowly walked towards Celia and Teta. He paused, and peeked behind the chair Teta sat on. Celia, who had
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