Driving amidst the pine trees we came to a halt. The tyre had a puncture. While taking out the spare tyre i noticed a deep gash running down the tyre.

A half moon hung low in the sky with stars sprinkled all over the northern horizon . Heavy clouds marched up the south. ” Ahmad come here and help me” I called out to my son. After an half-hour wrestle with the tyre we succeeded. We drove on deeper into the forest. At last we reached a shabby, rundown old house standing alone amongst the trees.’’We’re here kids”I announced with an air of exhaustion. ’’Daddy why did we have to leave our old house?’’my daughter Irum questions rubbing her eyes while coming out of the car.

For the sixth time I had to tell her the daddy could not afford the the mounting house debt so we had to sell it and move to a less expensive house. The house movers had placed our belongings in a tottering pile of card board boxes beside the house. Wooden floor boards creaked and groaned beneath our feet as we walked onto the veranda. Black empty windows stared black at us.

I put the key into the lock and twisted. The lock did not budge.I tried again.Nothing happened .Pushing the door for the eighth time i realized we were locked out. Through flowing streams of sweat i ordered Ahmed to scout for possible door at the back of the house but all in vein. Leaves crunched beneath my feet as I paced up and down calling the estate agent from my cell phone.Every time i tried an irritating busy beep told that it was of no use. My anxiety grew. A fear hovered over me that i had been robbed. Wearily the children began to complain. The fact that we had no other place to stay, coupled up with the children throwing a tantrum increased my frustration. What else could possibly go wrong? Suddenly a cold drop of water spattered onto my nose. It had begun to rain.

Hastily i ushered the children into the car. Stressed out, myself, i told the children to get in the car. Slowly we began to roll down hill. Just after a few paces a bursting sound hit my ears accompanied by a smoke from the engine. Again just my luck.

To my horror,I realized that we were in the middle of a forest. However, maybe technology could help i thought. Slipping out my fancy cell phone was no good either. Batteries were dead. ’’Now what do I do?” I questioned my self. jostling the children back to the house fanatically up the trail we arrived back at the house. Thinking about what do next i frantically lay my jacket onto the veranda floor and the children to sleep. Resting my head against a pillar I began to hear the distant rolling thunder. I dozed off into a deep sleep.

My eyes opened with the startling shriek of Irum. As I was not waking up she had found it necessary to startle me to death in order to wake me up. My neck was stiff as a stick. It was daytime.In the distance i could see a car rolling up hill.As it neared I saw that it was the estate agent.

I was enraged and furious. He looked utterly speechless. At last  he came up to me and apologized that he had accidentally given me the wrong address of the house. Instead of yelling at him, on the contrary i forgave him. Reason being i did not like the house anyway. As to come to think of it i was glad that i was not the owner of this house. The poor man had to pay for transporting my stuff  and hauling my car to the workshop to my relief our new home was in a much less remoter area with plenty of neighbours. We shifted to our new home. Home sweet home.