Short story: Meal time at Mullah Nasruddin's house

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Mullah Nasruddin's father-in-law was now living permanently with the Mullah, and his wife. The Mullah used to enjoy his meals, especially the dinner one, which his wife, and her cousin, who lived next door, but who the Mullah gave some money to, to help his wife to prepare the evening meal, as his wife, he knew, was already tired, from her day's work of cleaning other people's houses, always made the major meal of the day. The dinner table was always full of, and resplendent with many different dishes of various foods, but the Mullah's father-in-law had an annoying habit, of taking the next to last portion of each dish, in a way that he took just enough, for there not to be a whole next portion left, for anyone else to politely take such a small amount as that, for themselves. Then this small portion would be thrown out. Why didn't the father in law just finish the dish completely, the Mullah asked himself over, and over again? The Mullah always washed all of the dishes. He never minded doing this, as he used it almost as a meditation. He was there on his own, in his own thoughts. But now, the Father-in-law would stand at the kitchen sink, with his iPad, resting on its holder, on the bench, for hours at a time, watching his YouTube videos, much to the annoyance of the Mullah, who felt uncomfortable then, standing so closely next to him to wash the dishes in the actual sink basin, yet alone, to try to meditatively wash them too. Abdullah, the Father-in -law, would stand there as soon as the meal ended, and then stay there, until a toilet break, called him away. Abdullah, the father-in-law, was addicted to his doing of this. The Mullah noted how different people were to himself. He knew also why his father-in-law used to like to stand up to watch his youtube videos too Most people when seated in an easy chair lean back against the backrest. His father-in-law never did this. He always leaned sideways, resting on the armrest of the chair, with his elbow, but when he nodded off, while in that position, it appeared to the Mullah that he was in danger of falling off of the seat then altogether. The Mullah, therefore, was never relaxed, but alert, in case this happened, and if he would then have to catch the old man, as he fell. Perhaps it was better then, if he allowed the old man to stand up to watch his incessantly, infernal, youtube videos, but why couldn't he do it far away from where the Mullah was, actually perfoming some useful work? Photo Credit: The photo used in this article was sourced from the free media site, pixabay.com There was always plenty of food and dishes of food on the Mullah's table.