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Janet rushed up to Sanaa’s room when they arrived back at the house. She knocked on the door before she entered the room. Sanaa was sitting on her bed, drawing in her sketchbook.
“Hi.” Janet smiled as she walked in. “I just wanted to check up on you.”
Sanaa looked at Janet and then scribbled I’m fine. Janet smiled and nodded. She looked at the sketchbook. There were drawings of horses, clouds, the sky.
“Wow, that’s beautiful,” she said.
You can go, Sanaa wrote down.
“Are you sure you don’t want company?” Janet asked her. Sanaa shook her head.
“Okay. Call me if you need me.” Janet waved at Sanaa before she walked out. As she shut the door, the sheikh was just about to enter his room, which was next to Sanaa’s. He looked at Janet and raised his eyebrows as if to ask about Sanaa.
“I was just kicked out.” Janet giggled.
“That doesn’t surprise me.” Basil gave half a smile before he entered his room.
Janet headed down to the laundry room, which was on the basement level of the house. There she ran into Ruth, one of the maids she had met before.
“Hi,” Janet greeted her.
“Hello,” Ruth replied.
Janet put Sanaa’s clothes in the washing machine. “How are you?” she asked Ruth as she put in the detergent and then pushed the start button.
“I’m well, thank you,” Ruth replied.
“How long have you worked for the sheikh?”
“Ten years.”
Janet raised her eyebrows. “It’s a long time,” she said. Ruth responded with a nod. She was a woman of very few words.
“What happened to Sanaa’s nanny, the one who worked here before me?” Janet asked.
“She was let go.”
“Fired?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Ruth shut the other washing machine and pressed the start button after she had finished loading it up. “They all get fired,” she said. Janet crossed her eyebrows.
“What do you mean?” she asked. Ruth sighed before she turned to face Janet. She was just a little bit taller and slimmer than Janet. Her dark hair was tied into a low bun. She had dark eyebrows that framed her face and complemented her dark almond complexion.
“Since the madam passed away, Sanaa has had many nannies. Each lasted no longer than two weeks. In the eyes of Sheikh El-Masry, no one is good enough to look after his daughter,” Ruth explained.
“The madam, I mean his wife, she looked after Sanaa before she passed away?”
“Yes, she didn’t work. She stayed home with Sanaa.”
Janet sighed. Since Sanaa spent most of her time with her mother, it made sense that she wouldn’t open up to her nannies.
***
Basil stood on the patio, staring into the distance. He had so much on his mind. It had been two weeks since Sanaa had a new nanny, and there was no change. Sanaa wasn’t warming up to her. She was still shut down and not talking. It bothered Basil so much, he wanted a nanny that would be good to Sanaa, and that Sanaa would like and trust.
