My name is Ahmed, and I have a brother named Othman. Our academic performance was very poor; we never studied and were considered among the worst students in the school. I was a year older than Othman.
During that particular year, the PlayStation and the Nokia phone had just been released, and everyone was obsessed with them because they were considered precious items back then.
Our father is an extremely short-tempered person, and he also has diabetes. He told us that if we achieved good grades, he would buy us what we wanted.
Othman and I really pushed ourselves. We started studying and working hard until the results came out. And indeed, we were among the top students and achieved really excellent and high grades.
We told our father, and when he saw the results, he was happy. We reminded him that he had promised to get us what we wanted. He said, "Yes, absolutely, and you deserve it, but just wait until I get my salary, and I will buy you what you want."
When his salary came in, we all went to the market, including our mother. We bought a PlayStation, and my mother bought the latest model phone, and we bought everything we had ever wished for.
And when we went home, two hours passed, and Othman and I were playing on the PlayStation. Our father suddenly walked in and, without any preamble, told us to pack our things because we were going to the village (the farm/countryside). The matter of the village was non-negotiable, as our father was ready to resign from his job just to go there. He then told us that we would wake up at seven in the morning, and woe to anyone who didn't get up.
The next day, we woke up to the sound of our father shouting, "Come on, get up! You've slept too long!" and waking everyone up. So, we woke up, and everyone took their personal belongings. I showered, got dressed, took my things, put them in the car, and sat in the car with my father while we waited for Othman and my mother.
Suddenly, I saw my father pulling a handgun out of the car's storage box (trunk) and loading it with bullets. I looked at him and asked, "Dad, why the gun?" He looked at me through the rearview mirror, went back to adjusting the gun, and said, "You know the road to the village is very long, and you never know, there might be many bandits (highwaymen)." Then he paused for a moment and told me, "Go, go check on your mother and tell her she's made us an hour late; it's nine in the morning now."
And indeed, I called them and told them Dad was angry, calling for them, and that we were late. We got in the car and started on our way.
After two hours—around eleven o'clock—my mother turned to my father, looked at him, and said, with annoyance, "So you lied to me." My father looked at her and replied, "Oh, Bint Halal (a term of address for a good woman, here used to calm her), don't start now."
Now, you haven't understood what my father lied about. I will tell you. My father had promised my mother that he would fix the car's air conditioning (A/C). And when she asked him if he had fixed it, he said yes, but he hadn't actually fixed it. The weather was extremely hot then, and we were all sweating.
My mother looked at my father and told him, "Stop right now at the nearest rest stop, and we will stay there until the weather cools down." My father looked at her and said, "No, Bint Halal, we're not staying there; we will lose time, and the road is dangerous at night." My mother looked at him and said, "I honestly don't care. You made the mistake, so you bear the consequences." My father's blood pressure rose, and he got angry.
We actually stopped at a rest stop, ate, and my father parked the car in a shady spot. There were many relaxing families there. Everyone took their seat, we closed the windows, and we fell asleep.
Suddenly, someone started knocking on the car window. My father raised his phone to check the time, and it was 7:00 PM. We had instructed the worker at the station to wake us up in the afternoon.
My father rolled down the window. It was the worker, who said, "You said you'd leave in the afternoon, but it's very late now, and you must pay for the extra hours you slept." My father got angry, not because of the payment, but because he had wasted time.
The worker spoke again and said, "In my opinion, you should stay here for the night and leave tomorrow morning, because, honestly, the road is dangerous, and there are bandits." The worker was genuinely concerned for our safety, but my father refused and said, "No way, I am not staying."