“Blue is red.”
“What do you mean?”
“Look at your jumper, what color is it?”
“Red.”
“And the curtains?”
“Blue.”
Mahir was confused and baffled.
“But they say blue is red.”
“Who does?”
“Them on TV, all the channels say so.”
“Even though the evidence of your jumper and curtains contradicts this!”
“I’m tired.”
……… NEWS FLASH ……..
“24 have been arrested for claiming blue is not red.”
Later in the day:
………. NEWS FLASH ………
“Yellow is now banned, it will now be known as black, which is also banned.”
Mahir looked up at the big yellow sun.
“It’s been a bad day. “
Paint by numbers
Meryem loved her paint by numbers, it was the only time she could switch off and calm her ever worrying mind, and she had a lot on her mind. Her youngest daughter was in a controlling relationship; her husband couldn’t find a job and spent the day at the tea house watching the world go by; her son had stopped going school claiming there was no point, she had no idea what he did all day.
With a deep sigh she picked up the first brush, it was unclear to her how it would turn out. She started with the small pots, the reds, greens, purples and blues. In no time at all they were finished, leaving the majority of the picture unfinished. She then opened a larger yellow pot and completed the picture, which she was very disappointed with.
She went to get another one from the cupboard, but then the phone rang. It was the school, then the tea house, and last of all the police.
In slow motion, on autopilot, she unfolded the new paint by numbers, which contained just one paintbrush and one color.
She trembled, her shoulders shook, filling the picture with tears.
(DM/DT)
