Hansel and Gretel 2016

Since Mother’s death, money had been tight.  Father was forced to employ Nanny to look after Hansel and Gretel while he was at work.  They were six and five years old respectively and went to school, but Father had to work long hours.

And when Father was not working, he was doing things he should not be doing.

The children heard about this traipsing after Nanny the short block from their school to the apartment in a big villa with many apartments.  Nanny talked to the nanny of the children that lived at the other end of the villa who in turn talked to the nanny of the children whose father went out drinking and gambling with the father of Hansel and Gretel.

Hansel explained to Gretel that ‘drinking’ meant getting drunk.  He had asked one of his friends, the son of a British engineer who had boasted that his dad got drunk at the British Club every weekend.  This friend had told him that some men got weepy when drunk, while others got violent.  Hansel did not know how alcohol affected Father.  They were asleep by the time he came home, late at night, but they knew that Nanny locked her door.  They found out when Gretel had a nightmare, and they were trying to rouse Nanny.

When Hansel asked his friend about gambling, the boy raised a wistful eye and said ‘you are not old enough for that information,’ and walked away, leaving Hansel embarrassed amidst a sea of fellow classmates getting ready to begin their day.  He had looked around, wondering if anybody had heard, but nobody seemed to bother with him and his anxieties.

One day, Nanny was gone.

‘Where is Nanny?’ the children asked while Father made breakfast.

‘Gone,’ Father grumbled.

‘Will she come back?’ they wanted to know.

Father shrugged.

‘I take you to school.  Then look for a new nanny.’

His face looked haggard and drawn.  Even to Hansel, Father did not look his old self.  Gretel was too young to remember the happiness when Mother was still with them.  Hansel missed Mother more than he admitted even to Gretel, his closest confidant in the world.

‘Father, are you gambling?’

Gretel’s voice cut like a knife and Father dropped the plates.  His body stiffened.  There was a glint of something in his eyes, a strange twinkle as if he had made up his mind about something, Hansel thought.

‘What?’ Father asked.

Gretel shrugged and concentrated on the last of her coco pops.  When Father looked straight at him, Hansel raised his hands in an I-don’t-know gesture.

Later on, when they met during their lunch break, Hansel asked why she had mentioned the gambling.

‘I don’t know,’ Gretel replied.

‘Just don’t ask him anything like that again.  This is what got Nanny into trouble!’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Of course, I am sure!  I am your elder, I know these things!’

Deep in his heart, Hansel did not know.  He worried.

Friday morning, Father smiled as they stepped into the kitchen.  They had not seen him smile in a long time.

‘Today, we are going to do something very special,’ he promised.

‘What, Father, tell us, please,’ they needled.

‘You eat your breakfast quietly, and I will tell you.’  The smile did not leave his face.  Hansel thought it was painted there and wondered whether Father’s face might hurt.

They finished every morsel.  Then they sat, eyes shining expectantly, waiting.

When Father returned to the small kitchen, he was dressed in a pair of jeans and a plain t-shirt.  During the week, he always wore a suit.  On weekends, he barely changed out of his pyjamas.  Father’s hair was combed and he was clean shaven like he was getting ready for the office.  The jeans made no sense and Hansel wondered what was going on.  Gretel simply smiled.

‘Children, we are going for an outing!’

The children cheered and started asking questions, but Father motioned them to calm down.

‘We are going to Dubai Mall.  I am going to take you to the movies!’

Before long, they were buckled into the seat of a small car Father had borrowed from a friend.  When Hansel asked about the suitcases and bags he could see in the luggage compartment, Father kept his eyes on the traffic around them, manoeuvring the car through turns and twists in the road, waving in and out between other cars.

‘The friend who owns the car is going on vacation.’

Gretel made Hansel forget about the cases.  She told them about the movies on show, which ones she wanted to see, and what her friends would say when she met them at school on Sunday.  By the time they parked at Dubai Mall, their faces were flushed with excitement.

They had half an hour.

‘Children, go and wash up,’ was Father’s secret code to send them to the restrooms before the movie started.

When they returned with hands still wet from washing, he handed Hansel a 100 dirham note.

‘Go, get popcorn.  I fetch the tickets,’ Father instructed.

Hansel took Gretel by the hand and they joined the line for popcorn.  He turned to watch Father’s back disappear towards the line at the ticket booths.  As if he felt Hansel’s eyes on him, he turned, and waved.

Armed with popcorn and slushies, the children walked back to where their father had left them.

They could not see Father.

‘We miss the beginning,’ Gretel whined.

‘O, just wait,’ Hansel said as her small hand grabbed popcorn from one of the containers he was holding.

‘Where is he?’ Gretel whinged.

‘Wait!’ Hansel’s voice cracked.

There were people coming and going as new shows started and others finished.  The children stood in a wide hall, hopelessly being pushed and pulled by the crowds.

Hansel looked at the big clock hanging over the ticket booths.  Their show had started.

They finished the popcorn.

They finished the slushies.

There was no sign of Father.

Gretel started to cry.

‘Don’t cry,’ her brother said.

Not long after, and Hansel cried with his sister.

The children were still waiting when their show finished.

‘What shall we do?’  Gretel faced her brother, seeking answers.

‘I don’t know,’ Hansel whispered.

In the end, a security man came and asked what they were doing, and where were their parents?

They started to wail loudly.

A crowd appeared around them.  A woman handed them a lolly each and they settled down.

The security man took them to an office and called his manager.

‘What to do?’ He asked into his phone.

Gretel could not sit still.  Hansel took her hand and guided her to the restrooms.

‘I wait,’ he whispered as he let go of her hand.

Gretel was relieved when she saw Hansel waiting on her return.  She had feared that he might have gone.

They started back to the manager’s office but lost their way.

‘Along here,’ Gretel suggested.

‘No, it is this way,’ Hansel insisted.

They moved farther away from the Security Office and the people trying to help them.

‘I am hungry,’ Gretel said.

Hansel checked.

‘I still have almost 50 dirham left,’ Hansel informed her.  ‘Let’s get something to eat.’

The food court was busy.  Left to their own devices, they indulged in fast food and yet more sugary drinks.

They strolled away.

Around a few corners, they came to a candy store.  Bright lights and fine indulgencies beckoned.

‘Let’s look inside,’ Gretel urged.  Hansel grinned.

‘We have a little money left,’ he winked at his sister.

They stepped inside.  Nobody paid them any heed.

It only took moments before they started to touch the shiny multi-coloured sweets.  A few displays later, Gretel found a large lollipop with a broken wrapper.  Before Hansel could stop her, his sister had her lips around the sugary thing.

Her face beamed.

Eagerly, Hansel checked for another damaged wrapper.  He could not find one, but his fingers probed with ever increasing fervour till one crinkly plastic covering gave.  Happily sucking, Hansel and Gretel moved through the store.

When their bellies as well as their pockets were filled, they decided to move on.

They almost had reached the doors, when a loud voice stopped them short.

‘And what do you think you are doing?  Thieves!  I saw you!’

The children froze.

Strong hands clamped onto their shoulders and spun them round.

They found themselves looking at the scary face of an older woman with matted grey hair and the hint of a prickly beard.

‘Hm?  Hm?’ She nudged them.

Her face was so close they could smell her breath.  It reeked of garlic and peppermint.  Hansel swallowed hard.  Gretel forgot to chew her candy.

The woman straightened.  She wore fine clothes.

‘Where are your parents?’  The woman looked around.

The children stared up at her.

‘Cat caught your tongues?’

The children hugged each other close.

‘Please, madam, we meant no harm …’ Hansel started to apologise, but the old woman wanted none of it.

‘No HARM?  Thieves, you are thieves!’

Gretel cried out.

‘Mother is dead and Father left us at the movies,’ she wailed.

The old woman straightened, and looked intensely at the two frightened creatures at her feet.

‘Is that so?’ she asked of Hansel.

Hansel nodded.

‘Well,’ she smiled. ‘If so … how would you like to stay here and help me?  You can repay your debts and I will give you shelter.’

‘I want my Father!’ Gretel cried.

‘Thieves, nothing but thieves!’ The old woman hollered.

‘Gretel,’ Hansel turned to his sister.  ‘We stole.  We are in a lot of trouble if we don’t repay the lady.’

And so, Hansel and Gretel moved into the candy store.

The woman made them empty their pockets.  She noted down all the candies the children had taken.  She added the lollipops the children had licked.  She summed up the cost of them all and doubled the amount for her own benefit and any damages – just in case.

The woman fed and watered the children.  Hansel was put to fetch and carry, while Gretel was asked to clean.

People noted the children, but nobody asked questions once the old woman explained that they were family and left in her charge when their parents died.

Father never came looking for the children.

Every day, the old woman deducted their pay from their debt.  Then she added the cost of their food and bed space.  After a month, the children owed the woman a hundred times as much as on that first day.

In the night, locked into a broom closet without fresh air or amenities, the children cried.

‘How can we get away?’  They asked, but there was no answer.  The warden of their sweet jail was too careful to let them escape.

When the old woman noticed that the children were intelligent, Gretel was put to work on papers and filing.  Hansel was set to deal with deliveries.

‘This is not so bad, is it?’ Gretel asked one night.  They no longer cried, their bodies swollen with candy and water.

‘Where else would we go?’ Hansel asked.  They did not know their Father’s address, did not know what had happened to him after he left to buy the tickets for their movie.  They did not know anything about their families, never having been introduced to aunts or uncles.  They knew their family came from India, but India was a big place, far, far away.

So they remained.  Days turned into months, months into years.  The children grew.  Their debt to the old woman grew faster.

Things changed when Gretel started to bleed.

‘You are pretty’, the old woman commented.  ‘Very pretty indeed.’

Wistfully, she watched as Gretel went after her daily duties.  Hansel watched the old woman watch his sister and grew more and more uneasy.

‘I don’t like the way she looks at you,’ he said.

Gretel shrugged.

One day, a more regular customer stayed behind.  The old woman called Gretel over and shushed Hansel away.

The man was old, with a scraggly beard.  He took Gretel’s hand and whispered a kiss on the back of it without his lips touching her skin.

‘Indeed, a real beauty,’ the man acknowledged and Gretel blushed.

The man let go of her hand, straightened, and shook with the old woman.

‘Agreed.  I come for her in two months, when I return from my trip.’

Without so much as another glance at Gretel, he walked away.

The old woman rubbed her hands.

‘Aren’t you pleased?  This is Mohamed Mohamed, a fine man.  He was looking for a new wife, and he has agreed to take you.’

‘A wife?  Me?’ Gretel covered her mouth with her hands.  ‘But this man is OLD!’

The woman laughed and left Gretel to her tears.

That night, the children huddled in the closet that had become too small for them both to lie down and stretch.

‘We have to do something,’ Hansel urged.  ‘She sold you to that man, he will come for you soon, and then our lives are truly finished!’

‘But what to do?’

They thought and talked for a while, before they came up with a plan.

The next day, Hansel accepted a delivery downstairs.  After he finished logging it, he called the old woman.

‘What is it?’ She shouted down the stairs.  ‘I am busy!’

‘Please, madam, come and see for yourself, two boxes are missing!’

The old woman rushed down the stairs, fell over the trip wire Hansel had stretched across the tread, tumbled head over heels and collapsed at the bottom of the stairs with a broken neck.

Gretel carefully removed the wire, putting the screws and the thin nylon into her pocket.  She nodded at her brother.

‘Done,’ she mouthed.

‘Call the police!’

The police listened to Hansel’s testimony of how the old woman had fallen, agitated by the apparent disappearance of some boxes of candy.

The death of the old woman was proclaimed a tragic accident.

Hansel and Gretel, though young, were identified as the only family of the old woman.  They inherited the store.

Their story appeared in all major UAE papers.

Far away in India, their father read the story when he came to the market to sell his field’s latest produce.  He had often wondered what had become of his children after he had run off, back to his home land.

He sent them a letter.

In due course, Hansel replied.

‘Dear Sir –

As you know from the papers, we were lucky when we ran across the lady in the sweets store.  We have been blessed, no thanks to you.

I know that I am supposed to honour my parents, but what you did was terrible, unforgivable.

I enclose a one hundred dirham bill to repay for what you left us that day at the mall.  Our dealings are now finished.

Hansel and Gretel’

When they posted the letter, they felt relieved.

They were ready to live happily ever after.