neurotic Iraqi wife

Was walking in the mall the other day when I heard a kid shouting to his mom"I AM GOING TO TAKE THIS BAG,I WANT TO TAKE THE BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAG"his screams deafened my ears and made all passers by stare at his poor mother,but this was like deja vu. My mind went way back to when I was a 5 year old child living in Baghdad. Dont ask me how a child of 5 can remember these things, I know I do......

I was in a Kinder Garden School called the Mickey Mouse in Baghdad, in Al Mansour district, I doubt it still exists, and I remember one day the teachers gathered us all together and told us that tomorrow is a special day, we have to wear our best outfits cuz we are about to meet someone "special" who will be giving us many gifts. Full of excitement I went home and told my mom.

Tossed and turned in bed, who might this special someone be. Woke up way too early, got into my very best frilly dress, and matched it with my very best frilly socks. Sat on my bed and waited for everyone else to wake up. It seemed forever, until I heard my parents door open, I rushed to mom and told her "C'mon I wanna go to school",I never was this excited to go to my school before. The thought of getting gifts was far more important than the person giving them out,to me that is.

I have this small canvas handbag that had Snoopy the dog's picture on. I loved that bag, took it with me everywhere, it was something my mom got me from London(for me, a 5 yr old kid the place called "London" seemed like a magical place filled with toys). I absolutely cherished it, even though it became so worn out, I still carried it with me and used it as a lunch box. So anyways we arrive at school, the headmistress lined us all up and told us to leave everything behind and hop on the bus so we can go on our SPECIAL excursion.

Me being me, I held on to my Snoopy bag and as I was climbing the steps of the bus, I see a hand pulling at the straps of my bag, it was the teacher, she said "where do you think you are going young lady give the bag to me, you cant take it with you", I looked at her in horror, and screamed "I AM GOING TO TAKE THIS BAG, I WANT TO TAKE THE BAAAAAAAAAAAAG " she looked at me through her bottle thick glasses which made her eyes look as big as a tennis ball and said through her teeth "YOU WILL NOT TAKE THIS BAG!!!".

You can see her patience running out, me being me again, I clutched at my bag even harder and gave her a challenging look as in to say to her, so what are you gonna do about it, and continued ascending the steps. As if by some miracle she read my mind and said " if you keep on being stubborn, you will not go with your friends on this trip and you will not get any gifts".

At that moment I wanted to kick her and I wanted to cry so badly but I did not want to show her any defiance. So I tried for one last chance to continue with climbing the steps of the bus with my Snoopy bag. She snapped at me, pulled the strap off my shoulder which in the process tore it off, and shouted "Ok off the bus now, you undeserving child, you are making us all late, you will stay in school while we are away". What nerves that woman had, thinking about it now I feel sorry for her. So I stepped off the bus and stood there on the pavement waving goodbye to my friends with a smile on my face,who cares about the presents I said to myself, atleast I have my Snoopy bag.

I sat in the classroom all alone. Tears filled my eyes as I took the torn strap in my hands. How could she do this to me, the donkey, (donkey being the only bad word I knew then,lol). The cleaning lady came to me and looked so sympathetically at me. Istarted whimpering and the tears just rolled down my cheeks. I told her what had happened, and how I will never be able to carry my snoopy bag anymore. She just took one look and said "Oh sweety, it can be fixed, let your mom stich it back". Slowly my smile returned on my face, and I couldnt wait to go back home.

A couple of hours later the kids came back carrying boxes and boxes of nicely wrapped presents. You can see their smiles from far away, and hear their laughter filling out the whole school. I asked my bestfriend who was it they saw, she whispered in my ears "we saw the PRESIDENT, we saw Mr SADDAM HUSSEIN". I felt a tinge of jealousy for a second. Did I feel upset, maybe at the time I did.

I cant really remember what was my mom's reaction to all this, all I remember was that she took me to my grandparent's house after she picked me up. My eldest aunt was sitting in the TV room. The news was on, and there right infront of my eyes, I see my friends taking pictures with SATAN himself and my aunt an old lady saying to me, "did you see that, that could have been you, you are such a stubborn child. You are spoilt rotten. If I was your mother I would have thrown that stupid old bag away". I looked at her and thought to myself Thank god YOU ARENT my mother....

God does work in mysterious ways, imagine me going on that trip and having to sit on SATAN'S lap. How would have that made me feel now, almost 26 years later. Thank god I didn't go, thank god I didn't get any of those stupid presents which I am sure were bought with poor Iraqis' money. Thank god I didn't go and get patted on the head with the hands that got tainted with innocent people's blood.

I am stubborn, not something to be proud of, but sometimes opportunities missed that seemed great at the time will only be replaced by something better!!! Simply because God does work in Mysterious Ways.........