I took my time walking home tonight because the weather was lovely and I had no need to rush. I stopped for dinner; I picked up laundry; I meandered.
I overheard two men from college speaking:
A: Where is your girlfriend tonight?
B: At some ritual. Who celebrates the crescent moon, anyways?
I overheard one college guy talking to his two friends:
I have trouble figuring out where we are in the relationship. Are we just friends? Is it more? What does it mean when I flirt with her, and how much flirting is okay? … etc…. How do I know?
And, being a busybody, I interrupted: “You ask.”
He looked at me incredulously: “You ask?”
“You ask.”
“That sounds more difficult.”
“Well, good luck with it.”
On the way to pick up my laundry, I passed one man getting up into the another man’s face:
“…children are turning against their parents.
These are the days when wives are turning against their husbands…”
One the way back, they were laughing together like the best of friends.
As I passed the mosque, I was stopped and anointed with oil scented through the grace of Allah.