It was yet another typical mor­ning in the Zaidi house. Momina was getting late for school. Her mother was in the kitchen making breakfast for the family.

“Mama, where’s my notebook?” Momina shouted from her room.

“Where’d you put it last time?” her mother replied.

“I had it somewhere in my room, now it’s nowhere to be found,” she said walking towards her mother who was in the kitchen.

Frustrated, her mother shook her head, “I always tell you to put things in their place, but you never listen to me. Here it is, behind the sofa.”

She took the book, thanked her mother for help and left for school.

After Momina would leave for school, her mother always organised her messy room, putting things back in their places. But it didn’t take Momina more than 15 minutes to make a mess again once she was home. Her mother had grown tired of her careless attitude. This time she thought to teach her a lesson.

Today when Momina came back from school, her room was as messy as she had left it. She couldn’t find a single thing. From her clothes to her laptop, nothing was in place. Momina was bewildered to realise how messy her room was, for she was used to a nice clean room once she got back, thanks to her mother.

Now was not the time to clean the mess, Momina had a lot of homework to do and she couldn’t find her assignment that was due the next day. She was panicking, looking for it from one corner to the other. After hours of searching, she still couldn’t find her notebook.

It was not possible to do the assignment again in so little time. She fell on the bed, helplessly crying.

Seeing Momina cry, her mother kindly asked her the reason. Momina explained the whole situation, saying she might need to do the assignment all over again.

Her mother wiped Momina’s tears and said tenderly, “Now you know why I kept asking you to be organised and out things back to their places? The next time you need them, it’s easier and less troublesome to find things, and this also saves you from the mental torture you are now going through.”

Momina sat up and looked at her mother with a sad expression. “Yes, mama, now I understand why you always advised me to keep my room organised. It was for my own convenience, and now I can’t find such an important thing and I may have to do it again.”

Her mother offered her the much-needed help, “I have a solution to your problem. The mess is too big to clean for a single person and it will take too long. Why don’t we do it together? Hopefully, that way you’ll find your assignment. But on one condition, you’ll keep your room clean and organised by yourself in the future.”

They both started organising the room, and found the assignment hidden under a towel Momina had used in the morning and thrown carelessly on a chair.

Momina learned her lesson the hard way. Since that day, the typical Zaidi mornings changed and Momina didn’t need to ask for help to find her things.

Published in Dawn, Young World, October 3rd, 2020