The Eye and the spirit’s Mirror My true story
The family moved to this old apartment complex, as it was the last resource for low rent to fit their low budget .The landlord lady was an old and very kind lady that took pity on this tenant with her 4 kids.
The family moved with their few belonging to this old one bedroom unit. The tenant started to work for the old landlord and so she gave her rent free as her salary and the tenant was doing the laundry, house cleaning, and cooking going to the market for her and in return the old lady also gave her and her kids 4 food for each day.
One child was 8 and he went to school, another was 5 and the third was 3 and one girl 2 years old.
The landlord loved children so she asked the tenant that she can keep the kids in her house while she is working for her cleaning, washing, cooking, and going to the market. One child didn’t like to stay in the old lady house because she always asked him to take care of the 2 years old , they always watched cartoons and slept so he liked to stay alone in the unit and watch TV alone until his mother came back with the other 2 kids .
The tenant was very grateful for this job, as her husband was in a political prison for 5 years. So she knew that she had to work very hard and thank God for his blessing of that job and that kind landlord, as the government paid only a few dollars a month and it was not even enough to buy food for a month.
By the time she go to her place and look after her children fed them, prepare the older child for his next day school, wash their clothes and iron them then she was ready to sleep with the 2 years and 3 years old children beside her, and as soon as her head hit the pillow she was in 7 heavens. Occasionally woke up after the 2 years old cries and she gave her the warm milk bottle.
There was this icon talisman on the wall part of the unit furniture that’s belonging to the landlord lady. It was a mystic looking evil eye or they call it the eye of Fatima for protection as this was and still is part of middle east culture way back from the Jewish and Islamic traditions they used to call it om Khams anyone ( khamsha , hamsa,) ,it was larger than usual, bronze with green jade and red stones . When the sunlight hits the eye it will shine in the morning, and when the moon light hits the eye it becomes even more mysterious with red laser like light shining from it that mixes with the jade and the brass.
There is only one bedroom so the lady and the children slept in one room , the older child had his own corner bed, and the rest slept on small , thin mattresses on the floor . The lady slept in the middle front of the door. In the room was that old antique table with a mirror that was kept by the landlord lady in the place that was exactly on the opposite side of the Eye. At night when the moon is full the moonlight shines to this eye and the light reflects to the mirror that keeps the 3 children entertained. They used to have a small black and white TV that the old landlord gave to them to watch cartoons.
The older child used to go to school nearby after he eats his oatmeal, and one was 5 years and stayed back home, after his mother took the other 2 with her to the landlord house to work. Their mother go to work at the old lady house that was only 100 feet away the little child stay behind watching cartoon as he didnt’ like to go to the landlord house ,and like watching cartoon and children show on the black and white the TV alone , and watch the windows to see when his brother Sam comes back .
His mother didn’t have a baby sitter, she couldn’t afford one, and the landlord lady was watching the other 2 kids while my mother worked. The landlord lady had knee pain and used a cane to walk, her husband passed away a few years earlier leaving her the large house and the apartment units.
The little child mother told him to not open the door to any one,only if he feels he was in danger or there was a fire to leave the house and come to her at her work and always ask him to join them so they can all stay at the landlord house while she do her work but he liked to stay in the unit.
When his mother arrived from work for break, do her prayers, and to feed the child and make sure that he was ok she fined the little child sleeping beside the mirror or on the top of the table where the mirror stood. She didn’t think much about it. She thought it was a child play and he might be bored.
One day when she walked into the place she could hear her child talking to someone!
She was surprised! so she moved slowly to the bedroom and looked from the corner of the door , She saw him talking to the mirror, again she thought it was a child’s imagination and loneliness but when she asked him about it the child said yes he was talking to the lady in the mirror.
What lady? The mother asked
The old nice lady who tell me everything, the child replied
You mean the landlord lady? You want to talk to her, the mother asked
No mom it is a nice lady she tell me things and always protect me, he answered
Again the mother brushed it as imagination and asked the child to watch TV and started to teach him how to pray to God, and told him to come with her so he wouldn’t feel alone. But he insisted on staying, and only went to walk with his mom to the park nearby.
The child conversation with that lady in the mirror only happens when the sunlight hits the eye and it reflects to the mirror then the lady appears to the child only and not to the rest of the family.
The child asked the lady in the mirror who always papered to him on Friday afternoon, what is your name?
My name is Salma, the answer was given, and my name is Saad the child answered