Short Story: Mullah Nasruddin's father-in-law's sweet tooth was not as sweet as the Mullah to his wife, on this day.

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The Mullah's father-in-law liked to suck on boiled lollies, but he used the special medicated throat and cold prevention lozenges, the same as you would lollies. He ate 4 or 5 of these a day, and being careless, and unthinkingly thoughtless, he always dropped the wrapping paper where he was, on the floor, if inside the Mullah's house, or if outside, in the garden, or if going for a walk, on the footpath. Fatima, the Mullah's wife, and the Mullah, where always picking up these small blue scraps of plastic everywhere, around his house, and beyond. At least, they knew where he had been in the village, as his trail was so easily to be seen. The old man was getting a bit hard of hearing, and he was getting rather eccentric too. If he got lost, they just had to follow the trail of wrappers, to find him again. The Mullah's wife was always opening the curtains in the old man's room, (he lived with them now, after the death of his own wife, Fatima, the first) as if she didn't do this, they would always remain closed, both day and night, and he would just use the room light, if he wanted light, instead. The old guy would never shake the small mat in his bathroom, which was always full of his matted hair, as he still had a full supply of hair, for such an old man too. Then, he would pore over the Mullah's writings, and his ancient scrolls too, for most of the day to entertain himself, with his doing this. He could not read, but he did look at some of the drawings that the Mullah had made, and sometimes, he would even add one of his own drawings, to the side of the paper too. The outdoor blinds, the Mullah's wife always asked the Mullah to put down, as early as possible, whenever it was going to be a hot day. She went off to work, at her cleaning business, rather early in the mornings, before sunrise, and she expected the Mullah to do this for her, so that the canvas outdoor deckchairs, did not overly fade too quickly, from the hot afternoon sun in that country. The Mullah, was always busy with his own things all day, but about five minutes before he expected her home, he would usually rush out quickly, and put down these blinds. At least, they would be down when the wife arrived home, and so he would not get the long end of a whipping from her this time around again. If he did forget, or if she came home early, she would give him such a talking to, that some people had reported hearing her raised voice, even in the next village, a long distance off indeed. One such day, the Mullah had left the blinds up, and it was a particularly hot day too. His father-in-law, liking the sun, was seated on a deckchair, without even a hat on, when Fatima, came home that day. She roared at the Mullah, like a mallee bull. "My poor father is as red as a beetroot. You know that he is not with it enough these days to come in out of the sun, and you didn't even monitor his behaviour enough, to put the outdoor blind down too." The Mullah retreated sheepishly. He was guilty as charged today. The father-in-law's face was red raw, and the Mullah rushed inside, and he got his homemade herbal sun cream lotion, and he plastered the restorative cream, all over the old man's face. "This will not happen again, my dear," he offered, softly. "I was busy with my accountancy figures. It's the end of the month, and the papers had to be put in by today, and you know you will not get that big refund due to you, if I didn't do that for you, my dear wife," he went on. The wife smiled, "Ok, I will let you off this time Mullah, but make sure all of that money comes to me, and do not keep half of it for yourself, as you did last time." Photo Credit: The photo used here belongs to me, the author, of this piece The father-in-law loved these little suckers, and he sucked on one whenever he could do so.