A family brings its familiar lunch into a smaller apartment. Their grandmother asks for something their reassuring words have overlooked.
01Read the Arabic story
غَدَاءُ الْجُمُعَةِ فِي شَقَّةٍ أَصْغَرَ
فِي أَوَّلِ جُمُعَةٍ بَعْدَ انْتِقَالِ جَدَّتِي، حَمَلْنَا إِلَى شَقَّتِهَا الْجَدِيدَةِ قَدْرَ الْأَرُزِّ الْكَبِيرَ. كُنَّا سَبْعَةَ زُوَّارٍ، وَالطَّاوِلَةُ الصَّغِيرَةُ تَتَّسِعُ لِأَرْبَعَةٍ. قَالَ خَالِي إِنَّنَا سَنَجِدُ حَلًّا كَمَا كُنَّا نَفْعَلُ دَائِمًا، وَفَتَحَ طَاوِلَةً قَابِلَةً لِلطَّيِّ فِي الْمَمَرِّ. لَمْ نَسْأَلْ جَدَّتِي عَنْ مَوْضِعِهَا؛ كُنَّا نَحْمِلُ تَرْتِيبَ الْبَيْتِ الْقَدِيمِ مَعَ الطَّعَامِ، وَنَعُدُّهُ شَيْئًا لَا يَحْتَاجُ إِلَى دَعْوَةٍ.
جَلَسَ أَرْبَعَةٌ فِي الْغُرْفَةِ وَثَلَاثَةٌ عِنْدَ الطَّاوِلَةِ الْأُخْرَى. كَانَتِ الْأَطْبَاقُ الَّتِي وَضَعْنَاهَا فِي الْمَمَرِّ تَمْنَعُ مُرُورَ الْقَدْرِ، فَنَقَلْنَاهَا مَرَّةً بَعْدَ أُخْرَى. ضَحِكْنَا مِنَ الزِّحَامِ، وَقَالَ خَالِي إِنَّ الْجَمْعَةَ الْحَقِيقِيَّةَ لَا تُقَاسُ بِالْمَسَاحَةِ. كَانَ قَوْلُهُ يُطَمْئِنُنَا، لَكِنَّ جَدَّتِي بَقِيَتْ وَاقِفَةً عِنْدَ بَابِ الْمَطْبَخِ، تَنْتَظِرُ أَنْ يُفْرِغَ أَحَدُنَا لَهَا مَكَانًا لِلْجُلُوسِ.
طَلَبَتْ مِنَّا أَنْ نَرْفَعَ الطَّاوِلَةَ الْقَابِلَةَ لِلطَّيِّ. ظَنَنَّا أَنَّهَا تُرِيدُ إِعَادَةَ تَرْتِيبِ الْغُرْفَةِ، فَقَالَتْ إِنَّهَا تُرِيدُ أَنْ تَجْلِسَ مَعَنَا قَبْلَ أَنْ يَبْرُدَ الطَّعَامُ. كَانَ بَيْتُهَا الْقَدِيمُ أَوْسَعَ، وَلَكِنَّهَا كَانَتْ تَقْضِي فِيهِ صَبَاحَ الْجُمُعَةِ بَيْنَ الْقَدْرِ وَالْمَائِدَةِ. الْمَسَاحَةُ الَّتِي افْتَقَدْنَاهَا لَمْ تَكُنْ تَمْنَحُهَا الْوَقْتَ الَّذِي افْتَرَضْنَاهُ، وَقَدْ أَفْرَغَتْ خِزَانَتَيْنِ قَبْلَ انْتِقَالِهَا.
أَخَذْنَا أَطْبَاقَنَا وَجَلَسْنَا حَوْلَ الطَّاوِلَةِ الصَّغِيرَةِ وَعَلَى الْمَقَاعِدِ الْقَرِيبَةِ. لَمْ نَجْلِسْ كَمَا فِي الصُّورَةِ الْقَدِيمَةِ؛ انْتَظَرَ بَعْضُنَا لِيَمُدَّ يَدَهُ إِلَى السَّلَطَةِ. وَاقْتَرَحَتْ أُمِّي أَنْ تُعِدَّ الْغَدَاءَ التَّالِيَ فِي بَيْتِهَا. اعْتَرَضَ خَالِي لِأَنَّ الْجُمُعَةَ عِنْدَ جَدَّتِي كَانَتْ مَوْعِدًا ثَابِتًا. سَأَلَتْهُ جَدَّتِي إِنْ كَانَ الْمَوْعِدُ يَشْتَرِطُ أَنْ تَظَلَّ هِيَ الْوَاقِفَةَ.
اتَّفَقْنَا عَلَى الْجُمُعَةِ الْقَادِمَةِ عِنْدَ أُمِّي، وَعَلَى الشَّايِ هُنَا بَعْدَهَا بِأُسْبُوعٍ. لَمْ نُسَمِّ الِاتِّفَاقَ تَقْلِيدًا جَدِيدًا؛ كَانَ خَالِي لَا يَزَالُ غَيْرَ مُرْتَاحٍ. حِينَ حَمَلَ الْقَدْرَ الْفَارِغَ، سَأَلَ جَدَّتِي إِنْ كَانَتْ تُرِيدُ الِاحْتِفَاظَ بِالطَّاوِلَةِ الْمَطْوِيَّةِ. قَالَتْ نَعَمْ، لِلْعَمَلِ الَّذِي تُحِبُّهُ قُرْبَ النَّافِذَةِ. وَبَدَأَتْ تَصِفُ قِطْعَةَ قُمَاشٍ لَمْ تُكْمِلْ خِيَاطَتَهَا بَعْدُ.
Show English translationHide English translation
On the first Friday after my grandmother moved, we brought the large pot of rice to her new apartment. Seven of us came to visit, and the small table seated four. My uncle said we would find a solution as we always had, and unfolded a folding table in the passage. We had not asked my grandmother where it should go: we were carrying the old house’s arrangement along with the food, treating it as something that needed no invitation.
Four sat in the room and three at the other table. The plates we had put in the passage blocked the pot’s way, so we moved them repeatedly. We laughed about the crowding, and my uncle said a real gathering was not measured by space. His words reassured us, but my grandmother remained standing at the kitchen door, waiting for someone to clear a place for her to sit.
She asked us to remove the folding table. We thought she wanted to rearrange the room, but she said she wanted to sit with us before the food cooled. Her old house had been larger, yet she used to spend Friday morning moving between pot and table. The space we missed had not given her the time we assumed, and she had emptied two cupboards before moving.
We took our plates and sat around the small table and on nearby seats. We did not sit as in the old photograph; some of us waited to reach for the salad. My mother proposed preparing the next lunch at her house. My uncle objected because Friday at my grandmother’s had been a fixed appointment. My grandmother asked whether that appointment required her to remain the one standing.
We agreed on the following Friday at my mother’s, and tea here a week after that. We did not call the agreement a new tradition; my uncle was still uneasy. As he carried the empty pot, he asked whether my grandmother wanted to keep the folded table. She said yes, for the work she enjoyed by the window. She began describing a piece of fabric whose sewing she had not yet finished.
02Useful words from the story
| Arabic in the story | Meaning here |
|---|---|
| قَابِلَةً لِلطَّيِّ | foldable |
| الْمَمَرِّ | the passage |
| الزِّحَامِ | crowding |
| يُطَمْئِنُنَا | reassures us |
| يُفْرِغَ | clear; make available |
| افْتَرَضْنَاهُ | we assumed it |
| خِزَانَتَيْنِ | two cupboards |
| ثَابِتًا | fixed; established |
| الْمَطْوِيَّةِ | folded |
| خِيَاطَتَهَا | sewing it |
03Check your understanding
Choose one answer per question. Follow the changing perspectives and distinguish what the text shows from what its characters assume.
What to remember
- A familiar gathering may distribute participation and work unequally.
- Changing the host preserves a next meeting without requiring everyone to feel the same about it.
Explore the Arabic in this story
Related grammar and vocabularyOpen Araqick guides connected to this story.
Kana in Arabic: Was and Were
كَانَ بَيْتُهَا الْقَدِيمُ أَوْسَعَ
Identify the accusative comparative predicate in the description of the old house.
Plural Arabic Relatives: Alladhina and Allati for People
الْأَطْبَاقُ الَّتِي وَضَعْنَاهَا فِي الْمَمَرِّ
Use singular allati with the nonhuman plural noun for plates.
