I was sitting in the front of a coffee shop at a food festival where a dusky colored young girl, buxom, wearing a worn-out white jean which was half zipped showing her underwear might be she purchased the dress before her tummy protruded, came near me. In, an orthodox country like Pakistan where Islamic tradition rules that were an unusual phenomenon and her bold avatar perplexed me. Gazing rather ogling at me who looked like her grandfather, she asked the shopkeeper for black coffee, an unusual request for a Pakistani who seldom drink coffee, they drink sweetened milk tea; she looked dismal when the counter boy said no and wanted a hasty retreat to join her family sitting nearby in an unusual festival in Karachi. I had a flask full of black coffee made from the best beans because I am a coffee connoisseur. I said,
“ Will you like to have a cup of black coffee with me?”
“Sure.” She took a nearby folding chair and sat near to me.
“Where is your family?”
“I am alone.”
“Why?”
“Because I have no family.”
“What you do?”
“I work as a janitor in a rich man's house nearby. Orphaned at a young age, my employers bought me from a person in Sindh. I don't know the name of the village where I was born. “ She sighed after becoming sad.
“Are your employers' behavior towards you is good?”
“ Yes, but they didn't give me any leave. I work for twenty-four hours and if disobey they will send me to their feudal village and where they will throw me to dogs. I am sure of it. You looked a decent man hence I came towards you because of my nasty habit of drinking black coffee. Your coffee was excellent. Bye.”
She suddenly stood looking fearful and vanished in the crowd before I say a word.
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I'm sure that your story is true. There are a lot of efforts to free Pakistani women underway based on the young girl (from Afghanistan?) who wish to go to school and received worldwide recognition. Maybe the girl was grasping for a lifeline. Maybe you're unable to throw it because of the power of her captor. Here in the United States, a simple call to the police would solve the problem very quickly.
When I was in Karachi for four days in January, 1978, I drank both black coffee, my favorite, and tea prepared whatever way my host would serve me. Mostly because I was lactose intolerant.
Yankee Doodle Daddy is a historical Appalachian Family Saga. The story follows a mother's reckoning as she struggles to survive and keep her four daughters alive.
