The three Moin children face tests not only on paper at school but in home and family life in the form of a mischief.....
COVER STORY
The three Moin children face tests not only on paper at school but in home and family life in the form of a mischief-making cousin stirring trouble in their midst. After dealing with their cousin’s latest scheme and coming out unhurt, they turn towards the next matter at hand: final exam season.
“Is it really final exam season if it’s still more than a month away?” Jasir paused in the middle of drawing something on the misty car window to ask his question.
“Of course it is,” Leena said, pausing carefully to judge Papa’s reaction before continuing. Papa kept his eyes on the road and acknowledged Jasir’s question with a quick nod of the head. Leena went on, “You can’t keep pulling all-nighters to cram before exams, you know. The earlier you start studying, the easier it will be for you.”
“Sounds like too much work,” Jasir said. “If I keep it all for the end, then I save my time by studying all of it at the last minute. Otherwise think of how much time it would take to spread it all out over several weeks.”
“I don’t have to think; I know exactly how much time it takes,” Inaya spoke up. “I make a study schedule and count the days left until the exams with each day’s topics to study listed out.”
“Yeah, and then you cross it all out because you never manage to follow it and end up studying in a mess just like everybody else,” Jasir said, breathing on the car window to make it mist up again so he could draw more.
“At least I try to be organised!” Inaya leaned back in her seat, her arms crossed.
“A for effort!” Papa joined in with one of his sayings which he interjected into the conversation at random. It had minimum effectiveness but managed to cut the flow of discussion long enough for the siblings to reconsider what and how much they could say in front of their father. After all, they all had to maintain appearances of studiousness which they kept up to some degree in front of their parents, even Jasir, who usually spent the entire academic year in party mode. “Yeah, what he said,” Jasir mumbled in response.
“Unless that effort gets you a C or D,” Inaya muttered. She worked just hard enough to get an acceptable score but ended up getting lower grades than she aimed for. At least she spent enough time with her textbooks to convince their parents that she was trying.
“Don’t worry, you’ll get there,” added Leena, the star pupil who never had to account for anything because she did so well. None of the three wanted to talk too casually about their attitude towards studies as long as they were in the car with Papa driving them to the bookstore. Both the presence of their parent and the scholarly nature of the destination of their car ride kept them in check.
When they arrived at the bookstore, Papa led the way indoors. Leena and Jasir followed in quick succession, with Inaya trailing behind as she paused to look at the posters on the windows. When the children and their parent gathered as one unit in front of one of the salespeople, Papa made a grand gesture in the general direction of the shelves behind the counter which were stacked to the ceiling with textbooks. “We need one set of textbooks for this young man,” Papa said, indicating Jasir. Jasir looked expectantly at the salesman, who finally asked the obvious, “For which class?” Jasir dug around in his pockets for his book list. After coming up with three gum wrappers, a receipt crumpled to the extent that it was no longer readable, and a stray paper clip, he finally found a paper that he unfolded and thrust in the salesman’s direction.
After a long pause, the salesman looked up at Jasir. “Class Pre-K?”
“Do I look like a kindergartener to you?” Jasir looked at Papa for backup.
“It’s pre-Matric,” Papa said, drumming his fingers on the glass counter.
The salesman nodded and pushed the paper across the counter back at Jasir. “Just tell me the school and I will get you the ones they use,” he said, suddenly becoming the perfect picture of efficiency as he sprang back and forth between shelves to get all the books. Jasir looked down at the paper he had given the salesman. It truly was a pamphlet for the materials parents were supposed to provide for the Pre-K class. He mentally smacked himself on the head, figuring out that his friend Awais must have replaced the book list in Jasir’s schoolbag with his own sister’s school supplies list when he wasn’t paying attention, just as a prank. Awais had been sorted into the pre-Matric class along with Jasir, and while Jasir had not interacted with Awais much in previous years at school, he had discovered a partner in crime when they had recently been seated together as table-mates. The teacher apparently thought she would have it easier by keeping everyone who needed to be watched closely right under her nose. Jasir and Awais kept proving her wrong by stirring trouble in all directions of the classroom from their joined fortress right next to the teacher’s table. Jasir grinned to himself, lost in thought in the middle of the bookstore.
Meanwhile, Inaya was lost in a totally different mental exercise: deciding which brand of past papers would help her more.
“This one here.” Inaya held up the latest print of the past papers and flipped through the pages to the end. “This one has the answer key in the back.” She opened the other specimen of past papers. “This one is severely misprinted and looks like it will fall apart if I look at it, so I don’t even feel like using it even if it were good.” She pointed at a glossy thick volume on the counter. “This is the real competitor. It doesn’t have an answer key, but it has the questions arranged by topic. I think that will help me more, as I won’t have to arrange them by year. But then I think of having to look up the answers myself, and the answer key looks more appealing. I can’t decide!”
Leena suppressed a sigh. “Do you want me to decide for you then?” She had been listening to Inaya go back and forth between the two options for some time now.
“No, I want you to help me decide,” Inaya said.
Leena stopped holding back and sighed long and loud before saying, “Inaya, you’re going to have to be more decisive here.”
Papa, who had been watching the whole spectacle without comment for a while, finally stepped up and said, “Let’s have one set each of these two brands of past papers, then.” The salesman nodded and went to stack the past papers for every subject on the counter. Inaya beamed.
“That is a load off my mind,” she said.
As Papa went up to the cashier to pay for their haul of books, Leena slipped a magazine onto the counter where the cashier was scanning and bagging the textbooks and past papers. Papa lifted an eyebrow but pushed the magazine across to the cashier without remarking on it. The cashier scanned and bagged it along with the other purchases. Leena smiled.
After they had loaded their purchases into the trunk and themselves onto the seats of the car, Inaya spoke up. “Do you know what time it is?”
“Hmm,” Papa checked his wristwatch. “It’s about half past—”
“No, Papa.” Jasir turned around to look at him meaningfully.
“Oh.” Papa looked around at his three children who were watching him with the expectation of toddlers even though they were all much older. “Let me guess.” He backed the car out of the parking space. “Ice cream time?”
“Good one, but no,” Inaya said.
“Shawarma time?” Papa checked her expression in the rear-view mirror.
“Tempting, but not today,” Jasir said.
“You’ll just have to tell me what it is that you want, kids,” Papa said, turning the car in the direction of their favourite Chinese takeout place anyway.
“Yes!” The three siblings exchanged high fives and smiled.
“No high five for me?” Papa sounded disappointed.
“Stick out your hand for a second,” Jasir said, and then Leena, Inaya and Jasir high fived him one after the other. Papa returned his hand to the steering wheel.
“It looks like I don’t know where we’re going,” Papa said after a few minutes. Leena and Inaya exchanged looks.
“Very funny, Papa,” Inaya said.
“No, I really don’t know the way from here,” Papa said, peering at the road. “Either they’ve removed the landmark, or I’ve driven past it without noticing.”
“Which landmark do you usually look out for when you’re going this way?” Leena asked.
“A building under construction,” Papa replied.
There was a moment of silence before Leena said, “It might have been completed; that’s why you didn’t recognise it.”
“Oh.” Papa blinked rapidly. “That must have been it. Do any of you know the way?”
The three children looked at each other. “You know what, it will just be simpler to order it to be delivered home,” Jasir said.
“Good thinking,” Inaya said.
“Especially since we don’t even know the way to the place we order from so frequently.” Leena shook her head.
“I wish the solution to everything was as simple as this,” Inaya said. “If you can’t go get it, just have it come to you.”
“Now, when you put it that way…” Leena prepared to engage Inaya in a discussion, but Jasir held up a hand in protest.
“No talking about difficult things before dinner,” he said.
Difficult things did crop up before dinner, as Leena caught sight of a piece of mail in her name among the envelopes of that day’s post. She had applied to transfer her college credits from online college to the Women’s Community College. Seeing the Women’s Community College letterhead made her hopeful, but as she scanned the lines, her shoulders drooped.
“What are you looking so glum for?” Inaya stopped on her way passing through the room to look at Leena’s dejected figure more closely.
“The Women’s Community College won’t accept my credits.” Leena set her lips in a firm line. “I’m going to have to think what to do about this.”
What does the future hold for the three siblings as they enter final exam season, and beyond? Find out in next month’s episode of Hackschool Project.
