Daddy laughed

I have never seen my father laugh so hard. Putting his left hand on his somewhat small stomach for a man his age, he gave out a deep hearty sound that brought a smile and eventually, laughter to my own lips and my mom, the centre of it all, joined in.

                What makes the memory so unforgettable is the fact that the cause of the amusement was trivial but I guess it was so funny because of the fun and the excitement of exploring something new, a different town, country and continent: Dubai.

                We had been vacationing in Dubai, and we had taken one of those long walks we usually had (as my father’s idea of a holiday was taking long painful walks in the sun with the hot and dry dessert dust enveloping us in its bosom) and we were exhausted, and had bought take- out food from one of the American fast foods that had outlets in the new city.

There was a couple in the elevator when we entered and I punched in our floor number. At the first stop, my mom got out of the lift on the floor that was obviously not ours, and the man got out too, leaving his wife behind. That’s what got my old man laughing so  hard that he could hardly get out the words  `we exchanged wives’ when I gave him  a  quizzical look, my expression more demanding than asking, what the amusement was all about..