The End Draws Nigh

[Sina Aleardi]

After a long day of classes, Sina found herself grooming Pop and then left him in his stall to munch on his hay, while she and Derecho made their way first to the Blue Ribbon House for a few hours of studying, and then to the cafeteria. Sina entered the building and stepped past the sign that listed the menu, as she'd already had a chance to figure out what she'd be eating for that day. For whatever reason, the cafeteria had decided that today, they would be doing a theme meal, namely, meat and three for dinner.

She had looked the concept up the first time she'd seen it on the menu, and it seemed to be a southern thing. But, for all that, she liked the idea, and when she stepped up to the counter, she asked for a pork chop, accompanied by corn, mixed vegetables, and green beans. To that she added her usual drink, a Hint water, and then walked over to scan her student card before she turned to survey the tables. The cafeteria didn't seem too crowded yet, so she had nearly her pick of the tables. She picked one somewhere along the edge of the cafeteria and set down her tray, before she undid Derecho's leash and sent him under the table.

After stepping on the dog's leash, just so that he wasn't completely loose, Sina sat down herself and arranged her plate and drink, along with her silverware, and considered the food. It smelled pretty good, and so she picked up knife and fork and got to work on it. Soon she'd be flying home for a week and a half, since her mom had finally won the battle and gotten her to accept a trial period of an insulin pump, and she needed the training. But for now, she just had to finish all of her classes.

[Khalid Al-Kuwari]

After class, Khalid reluctantly tried calling his parents. It was late, and they were probably all asleep, but he needed to know if there were plans for him to return home over the break and what the flight itinerary was. As predicted, he couldn't get through. It was frustrating to only hear crickets from back home. He didn't want to be stranded in a foreign country with no word from his family and friends. Taking Mick's suggestion, Khalid took to writing letters to everyone he knew about life in the United States. They were all just folded up in the top drawer of his desk, never sent.

The dinner selection looked edible at least, though he was absolutely craving rice and lamb. Pork was obviously out of the question, so Khalid settled for fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, and the mixed vegetables. Water to drink. As usual, no cardamom. Dinner always felt early, and the cafeteria looked emptier than usual. Without thinking, he made a beeline for his usual table at the edge of the cafeteria where hardly anyone bothered him.

He saw a girl sitting there, someone he recognized from class though never spoke to. Of course, he always sat as far away from her as possible to avoid being anywhere near her dog which he didn't see with her now. He had no idea how she managed to get a dog on campus as a student, but the fewer dogs the better in his opinion. A conservative upbringing courtesy of his mother left him with a deep rooted fear of anything canine.

Khalid set his tray down across from her and sat down. Like before every meal, he muttered a prayer of thanks in Arabic. It was meant to be private and personal, but he found it too easy to forget if he only said them in his head.

"Allahomma barik lana fima razaqtana waqina athaban-nar. Bismillah."

Oh Allah! Bless the food You have provided us ans save us from the punishment of the hellfire. In the name of Allah. He focused on eating for a few bites, hungry after classes and studying. With a steady reminder that his mother never had to know he was talking to girls, Khalid glanced at her for a moment before averting his gaze to speak.

"Hey, I've seen you in class a few times. What do you think of the art class? Name's Khalid, by the way."

[Sina Aleardi]

Sina had turned her attention fully to the meal in front of her, ignoring everything else that was going on in the cafeteria. It was always the same old, same old. People getting food, finding tables, and there really wasn't anyone in specific that she was waiting to walk in.

So as the table she was sitting at was approached and suddenly a tray was set down across from her, Sina started just slightly, before she chuckled and looked up to see whom she had the pleasure to be sharing with. However, the boy seemed absorbed in his own thing, murmuring something in another language before he started eating, and then said hello.

“I thought you'd seemed familiar. It's nice to meet you, Khalid. I'm Sina.” She paused, thinking about art class, “It's an interesting one, I can say that much. Art isn't really my thing but I wanted to see what kinds of mediums the teacher brings in. I hope we get to paint sooner or later, my work right now is looking pretty similar to a first-grader's abilities. What about you? Do you have any art styles you practiced before coming here?” As she looked more closely at the boy, she realized why he'd seemed familiar. He was the one who tended to give her a wide berth in the class... But it seemed he'd gotten over whatever it was now. At least she hadn't done anything to offend him, if he was being friendly now.

[Khalid Al-Kuwari]

He brushed a bit of hair behind one ear silently praying that his mother wouldn't march him over to a barber for a crew cut when, or if he got home. Hissah was constantly going on about how boys should have short hair and that long was was for girls. She wasn't going to raise a cross dressing son and he better not have any thoughts about being a girl.

"Nice to meet you."

Actually drawing was fun and challenging. He tried to avoid drawing anything animate, but plants and landscapes were okay. He believed that he would burn in the fires of Hell for drawing realistic images of people and animals. Portraiture of any kind left him constantly praying for guidance and asking for forgiveness. His mother went so far as to forbid cartoons depicting animate things.

"I learned a little arabesque, but that was always more math than art." He shrugged. "I never saw Western-style art growing up, so a lot of the material is new. Painting should be fun, but I don't mind pencil work."

Crosshatching was a fun way to shade, and stippling was just a giant nuissance. How anyone could stipple an entire insect was beyond him.

"Actually, this kind of art isn't my style either. It's too bad we don't cover calligraphy. That would be fun to learn."

He the chicken off the bone before eating it instead of just eating with his hands. Day by day he was getting used to American food and flavors.

[Sina Aleardi]

Sina nodded as the boy talked about arabesque art, although she had to hide a smile behind her hand. Her first thought as he'd mentioned that had been the dance position, rather than the twirly viney leaves and similar motifs that he was more probably talking about. She could hardly see this serious boy dancing in such a way, anyway, which made the thought all the more amusing. “That's pretty cool. I guess it depends on what you saw growing up.” Although now the boy's accent made more sense, if nothing else had completely settled the matter that she was talking to a foreign student, “May I ask where you're from?”

As the boy mentioned calligraphy, Sina chuckled, “That'd be really neat, actually. It'd be something different, for sure.” Other than the normal painting, sketching, watercolor that they'd done. Although she had enjoyed an art project they'd done in eighth grade, a pencil-themed project where pencils had been used to depict an animal. She'd done a cat, much to the surprise of everyone who'd been expecting her to produce another dog-themed project.

Sina pushed the rest of the green beans onto her fork with her knife, then stuck that into her mouth, before she carefully started pushing all of the corn into a small pile on her plate. Maybe she should have just asked for no third side, feeling like it was a huge plate still in front of her... But she'd already estimated her insulin earlier. Deciding she'd just eat slowly, she turned back to Khalid once her mouth was clear again, “So what did you think of the pony pairs we ran in mounted games? You ride Ish, right?”

[Khalid Al-Kuwari]

Khalid thought his English was pretty good, but he never could quite shake the accent. No matter how hard he tried, he always sounded a little bit foreign if not distinctly Middle Eastern. None of the expats ever seemed to have difficulty understanding him nor did they ever say anything, but to a native English speaker, he knew he probably sounded a little different. Of course, with his skin tone and hair, no one was ever going to mistake him for an American.

"Doha, Qatar."

Lately, it seemed like a decent number of people had at least heard of Qatar. A couple of students still had the glassy eyed stare in confusion wondering how someone could be from a guitar, but that was a dialect thing. Khalid was curious particularly about Arabic calligraphy and all the work that went into that. It was absolutely beautiful to look at in his opinion, but more western calligraphy would be cool, too. The corn on his plate disappeared first, and the boy felt like he could keep eating forever and never feel full. He finished swallowing some of the mashed potatoes before responding.

"Yeah, but I prefer calling her Irish. I can't take the name 'Ish' seriously. But it was okay, I guess. Relay races are more my style if it has to be a team competition. How about you? You ride the little pinto, right?"

He had trouble remembering all the horses' names. He knew his own mounts, and Dyrim, and that girl from Kiev with the Ukrainian horse. There was also camera boy with his Mustang that he used for eventing. His horse was named after a piece of tack or something. Oh, and how could he forget that pretty girl, Libby with Storm? As for the school horses, he was pretty clueless when it came to names and appearances. They all looked the same to him.

[Sina Aleardi]

Sina nodded as she heard the name of his city, although she had to consider it for a moment, “That's neat. There's quite a few foreign students around, I don't think I ever had any in my middle school.” She shrugged, “Then again, no one comes to the middle of California. Silicone Valley, Bay Area, Los Angeles, sure, but not really the rest of it.” California could easily cease to exist apart from those three main points and pretty much nobody internationally would notice.

She nodded as the boy told her that he'd changed what he referred to the mare as, although she didn't know if she would remember it. Since they weren't the students' horses, it wasn't like their barn names could be changed by a rider who may or may not be reassigned for the next class, or the next year, anyway. “I enjoy relay races too, but I think the pony pairs were good on the whole control of the horse thing, especially when you pair a big pony with a small one.”

She took another bite of her food and then spoke again once she'd swallowed, “But yes, I ride Pop, the Arab cross. He's great.” She chuckled, “Somehow I managed to end up with all pintos this year, my horse outside of mounted games is a paint. He's in the Red Willow barn, which barn is your horse in?” There was no need to ask, this boy was pretty much dead on for an English rider.

[Khalid Al-Kuwari]

Growing up, Khalid's friend group was fairly international, but they lacked the diversity of Blue Ridge. Outside of the Asian migrant workers, Khalid couldn't think of any poor people in Qatar. The government took care of all its citizens, so everyone had a plot of land to call their own, and even the expats all worked professional jobs. Of his friends, they all fell somewhere on the spectrum of rich, were all Arab, Muslim, and spoke Arabic.

He had to admit his knowledge of California geography was a bit lacking. He knew about Los Angeles, San Francisco, Hollywood, and that was it. The place got a lot of earthquakes and was huge in terms of land mass. It was even hard to think of anyone important who came from California. Then again, his knowledge of the GCC was likely unparalleled in America. To him, knowing that Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa was the monarch of Bahrain was completely normal.

It didn't take long for Khalid to finish off the rest of his chicken, though the fatty and salty taste still took some getting used to. It took a few moments for him to finish eating before he could respond to Sina's question. It felt like every time food and conversation mixed, questions came at the exact moment when one just took a bite.

"White Oak."

He stretched out his legs under the table for a moment, jumping a little when he felt something that obviously wasn't the floor. Another exploratory feel determined it was some kind of furry lump--maybe a stuffed toy someone dropped? Whatever it was, it probably didn't belong on the floor under the table, and he certainly didn't want anyone squishing it on accident. Khalid ducked under the table to fetch the strange object and found himself staring at a dog.

In his surprise and terror, he tried to sit up and ended up slamming his head and back against the table wincing at the sudden pain. However, that wasn't going to deter him from getting far away from Der in his fear of dogs. Khalid pushed himself out from under the table hard, promptly forgot about the narrow bench he was sitting on, and toppled off backwards. His head and shoulders were the first to hit the ground, and he felt convinced that being struck by lightning couldn't be more painful.

Khalid was beside himself with terror. He could see his hands quivering in front of his face as he tried to pray for forgiveness, reciting familiar supplications in Arabic.

[Sina Aleardi]

Sina nodded as she heard that Khalid's horse was in White Oak, although she didn't get a chance to respond that Pop was in the same barn. Things seemed to go really quickly after that, Khalid ducking under the table for some reason – Had he dropped something? - and then a loud thump, followed by the boy scrabbling backwards and falling against the tile.

“Der, stay.” Sina left the dog where he was, although she had her suspicions as to the cause of the boy's start, if not what had possessed him to check under the table in the first place. Although how that had surprised him, she couldn't begin to guess. He had very obviously seen Derecho in class with her, and he'd still chosen to sit at the same table as her.

However, there was time to think about that later, and Sina hurried around the table to get to the boy, “Are you alright? That sounded nasty.” She wasn't immediately going to jump to calling an adult over, and a glance around the cafeteria showed that it was only those close to their table that had even noticed anything, and of those most were already turning away again, apparently thinking she had it in hand, “What happened?”

[Khalid Al-Kuwari]

The idea of service dogs was still rather new to Khalid. He knew that the military used dogs to find bombs, and they always made an appearance in the Qatar National Day parade, but his mother was very insistent that the handlers couldn't be Muslim or at the very least, they were incredibly sinful Muslims. He knew Sina had her dog in class and avoided her for that reason, but the dog was nowhere in sight during Mounted Games. So he figured that she didn't always have Der around her. He also didn't even see her dog when he approached his usual table and assumed the dog wasn't allowed in the cafeteria. Not that he could understand why anyone would want to have a dog near food considering the uncleanliness of dog saliva.

He untangled himself and sat up. His head hurt something fierce, but otherwise he felt okay. The presence of her dog was about to give him a serious panic attack, but that had nothing to do with his head. Even though not too many people paid him any attention, he could still feel the heat in his face from embarrassment. Khalid massaged the back of his head in an effort to do something about the pain.

"I'm fine. Khara..."

Khalid stood up and brushed himself off. Ending up on the ground was undignified enough, and he certainly didn't want any adults thinking he was badly injured or something. He had a country and a family to represent, and there was no way anyone was going to think Qataris were wimps.

"Al kalb. I hate dogs."

Outside of religious indoctrination courtesy of his mother, Khalid wasn't even sure why he felt so strongly against dogs. Dogs were just evil and that was that. The imams more or less said the same thing, and they were experts on the Qur'an, hadiths, and fatwas. Some of the converts as mosque grew up with dogs, but Khalid always chalked that up to ignorant kuffar.

[Sina Aleardi]

Sina nodded as she heard that Khalid was fine, offering a hand to help him rise but retracting it as the boy pushed himself up instead. She was about to head back to her side of the table to grab her tray, although she would probably end up dumping it, having had her fill already, when she heard Khalid's next words.

“Then you're a Fudgeing idiot. I know you've seen him with me in class, so there's not even the excuse of not knowing.” Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were sparking in anger at the boy's words, “But I guess you don't care about anyone else, do you? All about you, you, and you.” Okay, maybe the words had managed to hit a nerve.

With that, the girl snapped, “Der, here.” As the dog approached her, she held out her hand and took the leash that he'd grabbed to hand to her, before turning to throw one last glare at the boy, “Enjoy your dinner, now that you've ruined my evening.” With that, she stalked out, leaving her unfinished plate of food behind. Yes, perhaps she should have cleaned up after herself, but she couldn't be bothered right now. It was the first utterly negative encounter she'd had in her time at Blue Ridge, but that didn't stop it from stinging.

[Khalid Al-Kuwari]

"Kuss ummak! Yixrib beitak wa-beit illi xallafuuk!"

Khalid was not going to take insults lying down. It wasn't his fault that she couldn't bear to be separated from her filthy dog even just to eat dinner. Seriously, it was about as good as inviting a hyena to the dinner table. Dogs were just scavengers that ate trash and spread disease. They had vicious tempers and would just as soon attack any person who got too close. For all he cared, God could destroy her house and the houses belonging to her family. Maybe it wasn't the most insulting thing he could come up with, but it wasn't like he could make any references to dogs. Daughter of a dog didn't sound as good as an insult to a dog owner. Kuss ummak, though, was about as bad as it got in terms of insulting people. He felt too angry at her accusations to even think about eating. To say nothing about the fact that he would have to perform wudu an extra seven times just to clean himself after touching her dog.

"You infidel! I hope your dog drops dead!"

He yelled after her seething with anger. There was absolutely no way he could have known she would have her dog here. The vile creature wasn't exactly lying out in the open where he could see it. He was ready to believe that she hid the dog under the table just to spite him. He glared at his food. So much for an appetite.