673. Exchange student’s parents

Anita hosted a foreign exchange student. Salma was delightful. She was popular at school. She worked hard. She helped Anita around the house. She took part in everything with enthusiasm.

Salma’s parents were coming for a five-day visit. Mr and Mrs Abdulrashid were rich. They were more than rich; they were upper-class society rich. Anita literally scrubbed the entire house from front steps to back steps. Everything was to be perfect. Salma parents deserved it.

“Such a small house,” observed Mrs Abdulrashid. “And where are the servants?”

Anita took them here and there. They saw the highlights of the town. There wasn’t one sight to see that didn’t have a bigger and better version where Mr and Mrs Abdulrashid came from.

“And the food!” said Mr Abdulrashid. “The food is horrible. Salma, how have you been putting up with it?”

Anita took them to the local cricket grounds and rugby stadium – just for a look.

“How silly” said Mrs Abdulrashid. “Why would we want to look at that?”

Anita was beside herself. She longed for the five days of purgatory to have run their course. And they did!

Mr and Mrs Abdulrashid gave Anita a farewell gift. It was a large crystal bowl atop two sea horses. It weighed a tonne. It must’ve cost thousands.

“It’s utterly beautiful,” said Anita, genuinely moved. “Thank you.”

She held it up to catch the light. It caught on the corner of the sideboard and smashed to smithereens.

“Oh dear,” said Mrs Abdulrashid without the slightest gasp of a regret, “and to think you haven’t even started to pay for it yet.”