The Dinner

by Umair Ali

  We arrived at PC and a bright smile came onto her face. Her eyes began to glitter. Her face began to sparkle like the diamond in her ring. She said, "It’s beautiful". I remained silent. After parking the car that took 5 minutes we at last stepped into the luxurious hotel. I noticed that as soon as we entered the hotel she had suddenly become very active. It was very crowded and we had to wait to get a table. She said to me, "haven’t you reserved a table?" and I replied "no I didn’t knew you would like to go to PC for dinner". The time we spent waiting for a table went like a decade. Finally we got a table. The menu card came and I realized that the prices of all the items were much higher than I had anticipated. I asked her what she would like to have? She said "as I have told you that I don’t eat dinner so I wont eat much". "Don’t say that" I replied generously and she said "ok for starters I would like hot and sour soup with crackers, prawns and French Fries". My heart sank if this is for starters what she will have for dinner but I couldn’t do any thing and so I ordered these. We both were quite I couldn’t think of saying anything as I was very tense. I was getting the impression that I won’t be able to pay the bill. As we were waiting for the soup she asked me a strange question. "Do you believe in ghosts?" What a ridiculous question I thought to myself. Is this the type of conversation people have on dates? . However I replied," no I think believing in ghosts is nothing but foolishness. Ghosts are nothing but a hoax". She replied quite rudely that she did believe in ghosts. The soup along with the other things came. She began to eat like she had nothing to eat for years. She had the aggressiveness of a predator. She was devouring everything like an tigress.

  After having the soup and other things I asked her what she would like next? I was praying that she would say nothing but she said, "As you know I don’t have dinner so I would only like to have egg fried rice, chicken Manchurian, drum stick and chicken rolls". I lost all hopes I was sure that I will not be able to pay for all this but I couldn’t say no. I left everything to God and ordered all these. As I was giving the order she interrupted " Oh! I forgot chicken Shashlick I like it very much" and so I added that too and then the waiter asked "would you like to have any cold drinks?" and she immediately replied "two cokes please" and so I was not left to say anything. I was so tense that I was sweating heavily in the cold winter night. My sweat glands were doing overtime. She asked, "why are you sweating?" and I replied "it’s in our family we all sweat when we have dinner at big restaurants". She responded, "Oh I see!" and then continued, "I like hoteling very much" that I could see very clearly I said to myself. The food appeared and it looked delicious but I had lost my appetite due to the tension of paying the bill. She ate each and every dish and I kept on looking at the food that was disappearing in front of my eyes like quicksand. I was feeling quiet uncomfortable because she was making strange noises while eating like dogs make as they devour their prey. This attracted everyone’s attention.

  After she finished I asked her rather reluctantly "what would she like to have for desert a coffee or an ice cream?" She said, "A coffee and an ice cream would do the job". I was past caring now. I ordered these too. I decided if the bill was more than two thousand rupees I would then cry and say my pocket has been picked and so I will give them my watch and say that I will come back and pay later or may be they will make me wash their dished but I was terrified of the embarrassment that I will have to face in front of my guest and other people when I will not be able to pay the bill. The coffee and the ice cream appeared and disappeared as quickly as these had appeared. After which I asked her quite hesitantly "would she like to have anything else?" and thank God she replied "no". I called the waiter to get the bill. We were waiting for the bill when suddenly my worst fears came true. A waiter went by carrying noodles. She began to stare at them and I had guessed that she would like to have these too and so to distract her attention I asked her "when you are going back? "And she replied "I am not the least bit hungry but if you insist get some noodles packed for me I will have these tomorrow" and so I ordered these too unwillingly. I decided to go to the toilet so that I can think of a way to get through this problem. The bathroom was very beautiful actually it was better than the hotel. I kept on thinking but no bright ideas came to my mind. I prayed to God please help me somehow. Send an earthquake so that everyone runs out of the hotel and we can get away without having to pay or may be I find some relative or friend that can pay for the bill or she decides to pay the bill herself as she looks quite wealthy I just hope she is not a miser or the light goes out and we can run out of the hotel in the darkness. I know it sounds ridiculous but these were the kind of thoughts that engulfed my mind in the bathroom. After considering all the possible alternatives I peeked from the door and found out that the waiter had brought the bill and she was looking at it with a deep smile on her face. Her smile provided me with courage and so I came out of the toilet and then I started to move towards the table.

  Then came the moment of truth I saw the bill. I felt like I would faint but I somehow read the bill and was astonished! I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was of one thousand nine hundred and ninety nine rupees. I was delighted I quickly took my purse out of my pocket but it was not my day as the waiter suddenly realized that he had forgot to add the noodles. This is it I said to myself I am doomed. I began to sweat heavily and also started shivering. She said, "are you all right" and I said "on top of the world". My eyes were glued to the counter and then came the moment of doom the waiter began to come close to our table with an evil smile on his face. He approached me and gave me the bill. It was of two thousand four hundred and ninety-nine rupees. I couldn’t figure out why they had the word only always accompany the amount. Is two thousand four hundred a small amount? I looked at her. She had the smile of a baby on her face and then a miracle occurred as I took my purse out. An old man sitting on the table next to us stood up and said, "today is my birthday and so I will pay the bill of everyone in the hotel". I felt like I went into coma. "No it’s too good to be true," I said to myself but as a matter of fact it was true. After I regained my senses. I opened my purse to give the waiter some tip but to my surprise it was empty. In hurry I forgot to take the money out of the moneybox. "What a stupid I am" I cursed myself. Then I immediately asked her to leave before she sees any other thing and asks me to buy it for her. We first went to the table of that old man and I said "happy birthday sir may you have many more". He replied "thank you" and then we both left the hotel. I drove the car out of the hotel as quickly as possible and then took a deep breath. I had never felt so much relieved in my whole life.

  "The food was nice" she said and then continued "but this restaurant was not very expensive. I had heard that it is very expensive" this was because she didn’t had to pay for the food otherwise she would have appreciated others opinion I thought to my self but I remained silent and then something terrible happened. She wanted to eat apple pie. Is she nuts! I said to myself. After eating so much how could she still be hungry? She explained that she was going back tomorrow and didn’t wanted to miss Lahore’s apple pie however I didn’t had a penny in my purse but I couldn’t say that to her and so I took her to the shop hoping that it would be closed but to my sad surprise it wasn’t. I ordered apple pie for her rather hesitantly and the waiter went. I didn’t order it for me saying that my doctor had forbidden apple pie for me. As we were waiting for the pie she talked about the importance of fruits in our diet but as I was so tense everything just went over my head. She was acting quite strange she knew that I am always at sea when it comes to biology still she was indulging in it besides that she was aware of the disadvantages of under nutrition but It appeared that she didn’t had the slightest comprehension of a balanced diet and may have been ignorant of the diseases caused by over nutrition. She was also quite modern in terms of hers ideas which she reflected in her conversations however on the Net she appeared very narrow minded, conservative and un touched by modernism. It was quite some time since we had ordered the pie but the waiter didn
’t returned and then I saw him. He came to us and said "sorry sir apple pie is finished you can come tomorrow". I was so happy that I gave him two rupees that were left by my brother in the car’s dashboard but then something happened which changed my mood. She asked the waiter if they had any custard and he replied, "yes". She ordered it without even asking me. I was feeling very angry. Actually I cannot explain how I felt. My feeling was a mixture of anger and fear. I was terrified. I didn’t know what would happen next. I was praying that they run out of custard too but this didn’t happened and after a few moments the waiter came with a big plate of custard. She began to eat it and I was thinking how to pay for it. I was so tense that I began to vasodilate. Heat was pouring out of my body like lava erupting from a volcano. I was feeling very apprehensive. As I was thinking she suddenly shouted "cockroach! There is a cockroach in it." I was shocked it was so unexpected. I quickly went to the shopkeeper explaining everything. He was extremely sorry and said," "please sir forgive me it won’t again." I said, "ok but I won’t pay for it" and he replied promptly "ok sir." "Thank God I got out from this," I said to myself. As we moved on she said, "If you don't mind I would like to eat Meetha Pan as it is a specialty of Lahore". I agreed hoping that as all has gone well till now Allah will make some way for me to get out of this problem too and I was right as the Pan shop was closed. It was definitely the luckiest day of my life.

  As we were going towards her house she suddenly shouted stop! I stopped the car thinking what could it be now. She had a bright smile on her face symbolizing that she has seen something to eat but the big question was what is it now? McDonalds. Oh no! I said to my self is she thinking of eating McDonalds and my presumption was right. "I want to have a vanilla milkshake" she said And continued, "tomorrow I will be in Islamabad and there are no McDonalds there so I don’t want to miss this opportunity". Well I took the car towards the crowded structure. The self-service was closed due to some mysterious reason. The waiter was standing outside and she ordered one vanilla milkshake. In a matter of seconds the waiter returned with the shake and told me that I have to go inside to pay. The stupid creature didn’t know that I had nothing to give them. I started trembling. Goose pimples appeared on my body. The thought of the embarrassment that I will have to go through if I don’t pay for the milkshake just made me shiver. I felt cold as If I was in Antarctica and will suffer from hypothermia. My pocket was empty but I got out of the car and started moving towards the counter when suddenly the miracle for which I had been waiting happened. There was a fifty rupee bill lying on the ground which someone may had dropped and had Not been seen by anyone. I quickly dropped my empty wallet and then picked the money along with the wallet. I had learnt this trick from films. "Who says watching films is waste of time you learn so much from them and use the knowledge gained in difficult situations like this," I said to myself. Then I went gracefully to the counter and asked "how much" and cash manager said "50". I quickly gave him 50 rupees. The person was amazed to see a big smile on my face while paying. This is because he is accustomed to see people with tense expression on their face while paying for what they had eaten. I didn’t even give the waiter any tip, as I didn’t have any money to give him.

  Then I drove toward her house quickly so that she may not ask for any other thing. We both were quite for most of the return journey but she said to me. "You should follow my example and stop taking dinner" and I replied immediately "I would do better I won’t eat anything tomorrow". "Why people after eating so much think that they won’t become obese or will not suffer from a severe heart attack?" she said and I replied, "Not everyone is like you. I have never seen a girl like. You are a perfect combination of beauty, intelligence and appetite". You should try boufe these have been introduced for your kind of people. At last I had taken my revenge and had explained her what I thought about her. As I was thinking about Amna’s eating habit when suddenly I remembered that a few days back our teacher told us that many young girls suffer from anorexia nervosa but I figured that it didn’t applied to her. "I would like to ask a question if you don’t mind" she said and I replied "ok". "Are you a drug addict?" I am asking you this because I have observed that you tremble a lot and I have read somewhere that drug addicts tremble a lot. I was furious how could she think something like this about me. "No" I replied. "Certainly I am not a drug addict but she is definitely addicted to food" I said to myself. After that she didn’t utter a word.

  Finally we reached her house. She thanked me and said "see you soon" while I was praying to Allah that I never see her again in my whole life. As she was getting out of the car something unexpected happened. She saw a chocolate on the back seat of my car that my younger brother who is just five years old may have left and asked me if she could have it explaining that she liked chocolates very much. I said "ok" thinking if I have done so much for her I should let her have it. I waited for her to get inside her house. She rang the bell and Gul came running out of the door. She was eating a pizza this time and said, "What took you so long? Where were you?" Amna replied "we had a snack at PC". I became furious was that a snack she had but I said nothing. Then Gul said "hurry up Amna everyone is waiting for you for dinner". Dinner this word had become a source of discomfort for me. I was surprised when I heard this. Is she still going to have dinner after eating all that delicious food with me? I said to myself. She will definitely suffer from diarrhoea, constipation, obesity, coronary heart disease, dysentery and many other diseases caused by over nutrition if she continued with her present diet. Then I realized why they had the painting of fruits and food on their garage wall it symbolized how much fond of eating they were. Her father was a food inspector and so this may have accounted for her huge appetite. I then quickly drove toward my house but due to the thick fog I lost my way. I was trapped in a thick mist with a big graveyard surrounding me. I was really very afraid. I had no one to ask for help. I kept on searching for the right way but I couldn’t find it. I was simply roaming around the graveyard. As I was searching for the way out It started to rain heavily. On that day I appreciated the true meaning of the proverb it never rains but it pours. The lightening and thunder terrified me and its was raining cats and dogs. At last after a one-hour struggle I found the way out.

  After reaching home. I emptied my bladder and then quickly went to bed. In a few moments I was dead for the world. The next day I received an email from Amna. It said, "What is wrong? Why didn’t you come to take me to dinner? I kept on waiting for you the whole day". Is she out of her mind I thought, who was that girl a ghost that I took for dinner that evening? Out of curiosity I chatted with her and realized that I had made a stupid mistake. I took some one else for dinner as I went to the wrong house but I suddenly realized and said if it was someone else how come her name was Amna and she replied, "you stupid Amna is my nickname. I use it for chatting". I was getting crazy at all that. I thought who could that girl be who I took for dinner? I gave Amna or kushi to be more precise as her true name was kushi a description of that house and her reply astonished me. She said, "I think you are mad". I asked why? And she replied "no one has been living in that house for years and some people say its haunted". I was scared if no one lives there then who was she and what about Gul and that old women? This all made me feel absolutely crazy. Was she a ghost or what? Now I realized why she knew that there is a tap in the cemetery as she must have been a resident of that graveyard. As I was thinking about that girl suddenly I heard a bell ringing and its sound began to get louder and louder and then everything began to get blurred. Then I began to move spirally, I felt like I was in the middle of a tornado or a waterspout and then suddenly there was a total blackout and then everything halted. I then entered a new world. I was no longer sitting near my computer. After I surveyed my surrounding I started to laugh. I was laughing not because I had gone mad but for the fact that I was dreaming the bell was of my alarm and I had returned to the real world from the world of my dream. Thank God it was a dream but a horrifying one.
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  I looked at the watch and it was mid night. I was sweating profusely and so I went to the kitchen to drink a glass of water. I then realized that after dreaming about so much delicious food I had become hungry and so I decided to make a burger. As I was making the burger I heard the phone ring. As I was alone in the house and so I had to pick it up. My parents are in England and due to the time gap between Pakistan and England they usually call late. I quickly left everything and started to move towards the phone but then what I saw there astonished me. It was Amna. She was wearing a completely black gown. Her yellow coloured eyes glowed like that of the cat I saw in my dream. Her milky white razor sharp teeth much like the carnassials teeth of dogs glowed in the darkness. I lost my mind. I couldn’t understand what was happening. I was frozen like a statue I couldn’t think of anything. I thought I was hallucinating. Then she moved her hands towards me and I could she her long pointed finger nails and pail white hands. The hands began to lengthen and moved towards me while her body was stationary. I couldn’t believe it her hands kept on enlarging and moving towards me and then what happened I think no one will believe it. I myself found it hard to believe but trust me whatever I am telling is nothing but truth. As her hands came into my close proximity I shouted and closed my eyes. I was waiting to be grabbed by those hands but nothing happened and when I opened my eyes I found out that I was lying on my bed. What had happened is that I was dreaming. Actually I had a dream in a dream i.e. I was dreaming in a dream. It was strange. It had never happened to me before. I had never heard of anyone having such an experience. I decided to forget about everything as there is no advantage in pondering over a dream.