November night was unusually pleasant and cozy. The scent of wet leaves was whirling in the air, little drops of autumn rain were glistening on the window pane, while shrewd wind slowly howled somewhere in the dark night. But as usual all this cold outside only strengthened the sense of warmth and calm inside a small quiet house in the village K. For those inhabitants of this house who were awake it was very nice to feel the heat from the stove, while seeing the cold fragility behind the window - it created an atmosphere of safety and comfort. The elderly man and woman almost simultaneously woke up in the middle of that night, and, without breaking the silent tranquillity of their home, got up and started dressing up. The man was already in his seventies, but oddly enough his coarse hair was almost completely black with couple of grey locks silvering on his head. His broad forehead was furrowed by long and deep wrinkles, which were almost absent around his small brown eyes. The woman, on the contrary, had very long white hair, which she carefully hid under a shawl. Her oval face was dark and dry like parchment with almost invisible web of wrinkles around her wide mouth and luminous brown eyes. Despite the prone years that weighed down their round shoulders, both of them were full of buoyancy and liveliness. It was easy and pleasant for them to wake up so early during this sacred month; they felt young and energetic again, eager to prepare emotionally and physically for another ascetic day without food and water. But it was still dark outside with a couple of hours before the sunrise, so, Kenzhe as usual drank a scoop of icily cold water, enjoying every drop of it. Then she filled a basin with warm water from the basket to make a daret. First, she washed her hands, right and then left, three times, then her face three times, then rinsed her mouth, then nose, then elbows, hair, ears, neck and finally her feet – everything three times. This procedure was a routine: she did it mechanically, knowing perfectly well the exact order of the body parts she had to wash before praying. Her husband, Eraly, was silently waiting for his turn to make a daret. He was sitting on his bed with a contemplative look, running his fingers through his neat beard. It was hard to tell what exactly his thoughts were at that minute, but whatever they were, they immediately broke off as soon as
Kenzhe finished her preparations. He abruptly stood up, as if he was surprized that his wife was there; and slowly moved towards the basin to perform the same ritual. While Eraly was washing, Kenzhe hurried up to the kitchen to put the teapot on the stove and to prepare porridge. She took dates out of the cupboard, rinsed them with water and placed them on the table near her husband’s plate. While she was preparing breakfast and setting the table, in her head she started to run through all the things she needed to do after the breakfast and namaz. She needed to wash the children’s napkins and their clothes, to prepare breakfast for everyone else, to cook enough soup for dinner and supper, to mix the dough for shelpeks, to finish sewing the dress for her eldest granddaughter, and of course, to keep an eye on all of her eight grandchildren. But these thoughts were interrupted, when she suddenly heard a quiet door squeak, and then the soft tread of her little granddaughter, Aisha. She looked sleepy and a little bit irritated, being offended to the core of her ten-year-old heart with the irresponsibility of her grandparents, who apparently forgot to keep their promises again: -
You promised to wake me up this time!
Kenzhe smiled, and trying not to offend her little girl, answered: -
Ainalayin, you need to go to sleep, it is too early for you. Remember, you have to go to school in a couple of hours, and you need to get enough sleep before that. I promise I will wake you up earlier than the others.
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But I want to eat with you! Why do you have to eat without us all the time? Please let me stay!
-
We do not eat without you all the time! You know that this month is Ramadan, and only now we have to eat before the sunrise. That is why I and your grandpa have to eat twice during the night instead of three times during the day, but children do not have to do that. Besides, we do not eat anything special. Now, for example, we will eat porridge, dates
and drink tea, that’s it. And plus, there is nothing funny or exciting about eating at night, you will be bored and sleepy, so you should go to bed now. Aisha was attentively listening to her grandmother, but she was not fully convinced about the mundane nature of this feast at night. It seemed to her that there must be something really interesting going on during this early breakfast: why then would her grandparents go through so much trouble of getting up in the middle of the night, while others were enjoying their sleep. So, she managed to persuade her kind grandma to allow her to stay and eat with them this time. When her grandfather came in to the kitchen, they sat down and ate porridge and drank weak tea. All that time Aisha was waiting for something special to happen, but her azhe was totally right: it indeed was just an ordinary breakfast. She felt a little bit disappointed, and Kenzhe, of course, sensed that: -
What happened, Aisha? Why do you look so upset? Do you want to eat anything else?
-
No, Azhe, I am full, thank you. I just thought that eating at night was much more interesting than that.
Eraly and Kenzhe quickly looked at each other and tried not to smile, they understood this childish impatience, and both of them wanted to make it up to her somehow. Eraly took one green apple out of the cupboard, and then reached for his pocketknife, and started peeling it. Then, smiling, he handed it to her. Aisha gratefully smiled back and shyly took the apple from his hands. She was sincerely surprized, but tried not to show it. She always had mixed feelings towards her grandpa, loving and fearing him with the same strength. He seemed to be very strict, and although he often talked with her about school and even helped her sometimes with homework, between them always had been a distance, and she never really knew what kind of a person he was. But this gesture was sweet and kind, plus, Aisha really liked apples. And while she was sitting and scrunching her favourite fruit, her grandmother started to clean off the table and her grandfather went outside to breathe fresh night air.
Aisha knew that when her grandfather came back, he and her grandma would go to their room and say prayers. Part of her really wanted to go with them, and ride on her azhe’s back, while she would be bending down and straightening up again during namaz. She and her little brothers and sisters had always played this way with azhe, and, of course, they were often scolded for that, in a very mild way though. But if her grandfather saw that, taking into account his unpredictable temper, he would probably be angry, and who knew what he would do. So, that was why Aisha decided to stay in the kitchen and wait for her grandma there. The defining point in that decision was, of course, that she might be able to find some of those tasty sugar candies, which she usually received only during the weekends. When azhe and ata went in their room, Aisha started looking everywhere for the sweets and in several minutes found them inside one of the drawers. She immediately opened one, and felt how the delicious candy filled her mouth with sugary water. It was so satisfying and comforting to eat sweets, while listening to the rhythmic patter of the raindrops. Oh, how little was needed to feel happy! When Kenzhe came back to the kitchen, the first thing she saw was the candy wrapping paper in the hands of her granddaughter. She smiled and decided to ignore this little misbehaviour. To be honest, she always liked Aisha’s good appetite, her interest in good food and her attempts to make out of an ordinary meal something special. Her other grandchildren were indifferent to that, but Aisha was a real talent in the kitchen. Looking at her little granddaughter, who was clearly enjoying her sweet treat, Kenzhe suddenly remembered dainty dishes, rich and delicious, which she used to eat many years ago during her own childhood. This memory was so strong and vivid that she could even feel the incredible smell and flavour of these extraordinary dishes, the names of which were totally forgotten. It was strange to think about that. All this extravagance with which she used to live as a child was almost never remembered in her current life. To be true, she would not be even able to recall how her parents looked, although she could remember the feeling of deepest love and utmost respect towards them. Apart from that, she could remember only the bits and pieces of her long
lost childhood. For instance, she could recall the smell and riffle of the numerous books in her father’s library, and the never-ending line of guests near their house, who always wanted to get advice or words of consolation from her father, and his long beard, and the peaceful sounds of the prayers. And also with very special fondness she remembered her serious elder brothers and her beautiful elder sister, who were always busy with their studies and could never find free time to play with her. These nostalgic thoughts were both pleasant and disturbing. Kenzhe realized how greatly she missed her childhood, this blissful time of innocence and joy, and could not help but pity herself for her inability to enjoy these precious moments again. With these memories floating in her mind, Kenzhe mechanically drew out an unfinished dress of her eldest granddaughter and sat down to the sewing machine. Aisha ran up to her grandmother, having no idea what kind of an emotional storm Kenzhe was going through at that moment. She impatiently started helping to set the needle and the threads in the right places on the machine, because she loved seeing her grandma at work, creating out of formless cloth truly beautiful dresses and suits. But while she was hastily doing that, she noticed, probably for the first time in her life, how old and small her grandma was. She suddenly noticed to her greatest surprize the slowness of her grandmother’s movements, the deep wrinkles on her palms, and the concerned look on her face, which made the usually invisible line between her eyebrows emerge. She saw these little things as clearly and distinctly as she had never seen before. And she intuitively understood that her grandmother was upset. For the first time in her life, Aisha felt great responsibility towards this tiny old woman. She realized that her grandma managed to take care of everyone and everything in this house of twelve people, but no one actually took care of her. And at that moment Aisha just wanted to embrace her azhe so that she could shield her from any misfortune, and protect her from any trouble in this world. She wanted to say something to her grandma, to console her, to let her know that she, Aisha, was there for her and she would do anything to make her happy, but could not find the right words. At last, with a shy smile on her lips, she asked:
-
Azhe, is everything alright?
This simple question comprised all Aisha’s feelings and emotions for that moment, and actually it seemed that no other words were needed to express her tremendous care. And when Kenzhe heard this quiet expression of her granddaughter’s love, it caught her by surprize. She was a very reserved person, rarely having a desire to share her inner concerns and feelings, but at that moment she wanted, even needed, to reminisce about her past. So, she gently smiled to Aisha and answered: -
Everything is alright, honey. I just thought of when I was a little girl just like you are right now.
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Oh! Please tell me how it was! Did you have any brothers or sisters?
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Yes, I did. I had three elder brothers and an elder sister, but they were much older than me, and that is why they never played with me, unlike your brothers and sisters. But we were still very close. – Kenzhe dreamily smiled, looking through Aisha, as if she tried to see someone very close and dear to her, but could not catch the sight of him, or maybe, them. But then her smile slowly disappeared, and she continued, - But childhood ended very soon. One day, my mother had my hair braided in a very unusual way, pinning up the ends with an exquisite but very heavy sholpi. Ah, I was insanely happy that day, I had always loved how young women gracefully wore these pins in their hair, and I felt so proud to be finally one of them. But the thing was that this pin was so heavy and so incredibly noisy that it was impossible to run or jump with it. There was even a rule, an unspoken one, of course, that sholpi must not produce any loud or unpleasant noise. So, it meant that I was prohibited from playing with boys and little girls, and every day I had to be just a mere witness of how my former friends had fun and could do anything they wanted. Well, at that time I realized that this pin put an end to my childhood. Since then I
despised sholpi, but it was too late, there was nothing I could do about it, so I just gave in and started walking like a little mouse. She smiled and sighed, and with some uneasiness in her heart she thought: “Time flies�. Kenzhe’s glance fell on Aisha, on her shiny eyes, on her half-opened mouth, and she suddenly realized that when she got married, she was only couple of years older than this little girl sitting beside her. Her heart sank. She did not want this child to grow up so fast, and to face real problems as early in her life as she had. She thought that she would rather die than let her little baby girl go through even the tiniest fraction of the struggles she had dealt with. She vividly pictured all the moments when her world tumbled down: the dirt and horrible smell in the train, the dark hairy arms of those men, and then the little child on her shoulders, the starving faces at the station, the first, and unfortunately, not the last, tears of her husband, and then the constant hunger, fear, and hunger again. Her mind, which all these years persistently and quite successfully suppressed all the memories of that period of her life, now showed all of them with daunting clarity and distinction. Right now she could even picture all the little details of that faithful day forty years ago, when she, being already married to Eraly, heard his decision to go away from Kazakhstan, from Kazalinsk and to move to Turkey. On that day little drops of rain, intertwining with wet heavy snow, gently touched the cold land, making houses, roads, people and animals shiver from more trouble. It was the beginning of March. It used to be a happy time of the year, when people thanked God for letting them survive the winter and for saving their livestock. People used to happily gather together after long lonely winter days, sharing news and food. But at that time, it was different. No one invited anyone for beshparmak and baursaks. No one had any. The dreary feeling of desperation haunted the villagers, people talked, or better to say, whispered, sharing the bits and pieces of information gathered from other villages and towns. Fear slowly but surely spread among everyone: now no one had a doubt that collectivism was a disaster, but no one talked about it out loud. Some people pretended that everything was alright, neglecting this natural fear for their own lives,
others, not really knowing what to actually expect from the new policies, hoped for the best. And her husband, unlike everyone else, decided to take action. He came to her that evening full of determination and bold courage, pretending that he came to persuade her to escape the regime with him, although actually she knew that he himself needed some more convincing. Because, to be honest, he did not really need her consent - she would follow him anywhere anyway. But although it was unnecessary, he still started arguing that moving to Turkey was the best decision under these circumstances. She attentively listened to his arguments, until the moment when his thoughts became absolutely chaotic and he himself unconsciously started panicking. Then she, calm and gentle as always, spoke up and advised him to make up a plan, a very detailed one, which would describe every step of their escape. At that moment he, for the first time in their marriage, looked at her not like he used to, with some sort of mercy, but he looked at her as if she was his equal now. Since then he has always looked at her that way. Preoccupied with these memories, Kenzhe mechanically continued her sewing, while Aisha was sitting quietly, feeling that her grandmother was too far in her thoughts to answer to her questions. She did not want to disturb her, but there were so many things that she wanted to know, so many stories that she wanted to hear, that after several minutes she impatiently started shifting in her chair. But there was no reaction. Not daring to show her curiosity in a more obvious way, Aisha gave in and nonchalantly looked out the window, noticing the first flush of dawn. It was beautiful. The fiery sun rays bloomed on the dark blue sky, illuminating woolly clouds. And the land after the night rain gratefully let the sun cover it with a long-awaited warmth and light. It was simply beautiful, and Aisha with wide-open eyes held her breath, while contemplating this wonderful phenomenon. -
Amazing, isn’t it?
Aisha shivered with surprize, and saw that her grandmother, smiling with her eyes, was looking at her. She shyly answered: -
Yes, it is amazing.
Somehow she felt ashamed to be caught staring out the window, although she could not say exactly why she felt that. Kenzhe sensed that there was some awkwardness in her answer and in her movements, and she was surprized, because before Aisha had never been like that, so she just felt that she needed to say something to make this awkward moment fade away. -
Well, every morning for sixty-five years I have had the pleasure to witness how the sun makes darkness disappear, and each time it is more beautiful than before. You know, ainalayin, you should wake up before the dawn every day, because this sight will never bore you.
Kenzhe reassuringly smiled at her granddaughter, so that she would know that her azhe also loved staring out the window, and there was nothing strange or incorrect about that. Suddenly Kenzhe thought to herself that it must be very difficult to grow up, being a fifth daughter in a family of ten – there was always constant need of attention, and in order to get that attention and approval a child was ready to change herself, to make herself ‘easier’ to be loved, to erase all the peculiarities and become comfortable. That is probably why Aisha found herself to be ashamed to look out the window with eyes popping out of their eyelids, and with mouth opened in awe. She probably unconsciously felt that it was something too strange, something that would make her less comfortable to be loved. “Oh, how little do these kids know…People must look out the window, people must see beauty around without feeling themselves strange or idle-living because of that. It is the only thing that helps you to feel happy and this is what matters after all.” – Kenzhe thought. -
Aisha, did I tell you the story about how sunrise saved your old grandparents?
Aisha looked at her grandmother, surprized, and slowly shook her head, implying that she had never ever heard this story that had such a weird beginning. -
Well, then let me tell you one of the things you don’t know about your grandparents. Many-many years ago, when your grandfather was a young djigit and your grandmother was a young girl of sixteen, they wanted to run away. And not just simply to run away to another aul, or to Kyzylorda. We wanted to run away to Turkey!
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What? Why? – Aisha exclaimed with astonishment. She could never even imagine that her grandparents were that…reckless and bold. - You are not joking, right?
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No, no, I am completely serious, honey. What is so strange about that? – Kenzhe could not help but laugh as she saw the facial expressions of her granddaughter. – Oh, Aisha, you must look in the mirror! Tell me please, what is so astonishing about that? Yes, we actually wanted to run away, and almost did it!
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Why would you want to run away? Your parents were against your marriage?
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Oh, no, no, no. On the contrary, they were the ones who made our marriage happen in the first place. No, the reasons were less romantic. – Kenzhe’s smile slowly disappeared, but her voice was as calm as before. – You don’t know many things now, and your teachers probably will never tell you what happened back then when the Soviets came into power. But the thing was that it was a very difficult and complicated period. And especially for people like me and your grandfather. We were more prosperous than other people in the village, and you know, communists never liked people who were more prosperous than others. I don’t know exactly why it was the case, but I know that as the result wealthier people suffered a lot at that time, and, well, we did not really want to suffer. – Kenzhe smiled.
She kept sewing the dress, and for a moment her attention was absorbed by a loose stitch on the collar. While she was dealing with this little problem, Aisha silently processed the information she just received. It was very strange for her to look at the Soviets in this way, in a negative way, to be precise. It was shocking to find out that they wanted to harm her sweetest grandma! Why would they want that? How was it even possible that her grandparents were considered to be bad? “But after all”, Aisha thought hesitantly, “probably, they (Soviets) just did not know what they were doing, probably, they were just mistaken”. -
Azhe, but are you sure that they did not like you? Maybe, they were confused.
-
Well, I guess so…I hope they were confused. And, honey, I don’t blame them for anything, they had good intentions, at least some of them. – Kenzhe pursed her lips. Alas, this stitch was mended and she could continue her job. – So, then your granddad decided to sell everything we owned, our clothes, our furniture, every single thing we had. So, he sold it. To be honest, I have no idea who bought it, but he came back with a box full of money, silver, and gold. It was not a big box, but still it was enough for travelling and for several years of living in Turkey. So, I packed some essential belongings that we decided not to sell, prepared food in advance, and…well, in other words, we were ready to begin our new life. Though, emotionally I never was ready to do that, but what could we do? There was nothing left for us to do, it was the best decision under those circumstances. And despite the fact that I knew that very well, I still cried for a whole day before our departure. It was just so hard to believe that I would never see my home again, my neighbours, these trees, this land. It was heart-breaking, but we had to do it.
-
But if you wanted to stay, why didn’t you say anything to grandfather, he would listen to you! – Aisha seemed to be so absorbed in the story, that she totally forgot that her grandmother actually never reached Turkey, and spent her whole life here in Kazalinsk.
-
Oh, dear, I know that looks like your grandfather wanted to run away, but it was not so simple. He did not want to run away, he had to do that. He did not have a choice. He needed to protect his family, and he did what he had to do, and I completely understood him back then, and if we had to go through that again, we would do the same thing again. It was not so simple. – She repeated absent-mindedly.
Her thoughts brought her back to that fateful March, to all the preparations, to all the doubts and fears she had. It was indeed a month filled with her tears and grief, which she tried to hide from her husband and son. But she was only sixteen; she was not very good at controlling her emotions and feelings. Very often Eraly saw her eyes full of tears, and could not do anything about that. He himself was heart-broken, but he never talked about that, never revealed his deepest fears and struggles. And both of them had to live, knowing that it was the last month in their home. It was hard. Kenzhe slowly shook her head, as if trying to get rid of annoying flies, kindly looked at her granddaughter and resumed telling her story: -
So, we were prepared to start things over in another country. We went to the train station with our little box, and hoped for the best. It was the first time I ever travelled on the train, so this trip was even more special and unusual for me. We settled in our compartment, and it was already late in the evening when the train began to move. And you know, somehow being on the train was very calming, at least for me. We knew that the train would go the whole night without stopping, and only very late at night, before the sunrise, it would stop in Kyzylorda. So, we just fell asleep. All three of us. – Kenzhe pleasantly smiled. - Even your father was not causing any trouble, he did not cry at all during that evening on the train.
-
How old was he? – It was so peculiar for Aisha to listen to a story, where her father, such a respected and strong man, was just a little boy.
-
He was only one-year-old; he was a tiny little boy. Such a calm and sweet baby he was. It was all for him: we just wanted to make his future brighter. I think, if we had not had him at that time, we would not have dared to run away. But anyway, although at the end we stayed here, his life turned out to be not as difficult as we pictured to ourselves.
Kenzhe did not want to dwell on the details here, because when they heard what happened to other prosperous families in other auls, they figured that they would probably be killed, or sent to the labour camps. As much as they feared for their own security, what was more horrible was the fact that their little one-year-old son would be either left an orphan, or would slowly die in the terrible conditions of the camp. She pursed her lips and closed her eyes. Even now, after fifty years, it was still hard to think about that. Taking a deep breath, Kenzhe opened her eyes, and looked at Aisha. -
Do you want to hear the rest of the story? – She asked gently. – If you do, then we probably should give you some food, otherwise, you will be late for school.
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No, I don’t want to eat, please just finish the story, grandma.
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If you want to know the end of the story, you must eat, and this is not a place for negotiations. Come, I will make you some porridge.
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But, we ate just an hour ago! And you won’t eat for a whole day, why should I eat now?
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It’s been almost two hours, and do not compare your young body to mine, I am used to not eating the whole day. Come with me, at least drink some tea.
Aisha hesitantly stood up, and followed her grandmother, who was already placing the teapot on the stove. Only when she sat at the table did she realize that she was indeed hungry. So, she gratefully took a plate with porridge and started her second breakfast.
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And what happened next? – Aisha impatiently asked, after eating several spoons of delicious oatmeal porridge.
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What happened next? – Kenzhe repeated, she had been asking herself the same question for almost fifty years now, and still could not give herself the full account of events. Well, as I said, we were all asleep. And in the middle of the night, I heard some movements near our compartment, but I did not pay much attention to them, and fell back to sleep. Then again, I heard some movements, and also some voices. I could not hear what exactly these people were talking about, but I felt that they were talking about us and our compartment. They tried to talk in hushed tones, so it was impossible to hear anything precisely, but I definitely felt a threat from them. Your grandfather and father were peacefully sleeping, and I still hoped that it was nothing, and that these men would go away, that they were just random people who happened to talk near our compartment. But they did not go anywhere, they stood near the door, and then I heard one of them say something really bad, although I cannot remember now what he said exactly, but it was very frightening.
Kenzhe heavily sighed. She lied when she said that she could not remember what that man said exactly. She wished she had already forgotten that, but she could not. He said that he was ready to kill them. He said that he knew them and how rich they were, so he was ready to stab them with a knife if they would wake up and resist. Kenzhe poured tea for Aisha, and kept silent for a moment. Her frowned face slowly became relaxed again, and she continued: -
And then I heard how they opened the door to our compartment, there were five of them, but only two entered. I closed my eyes, and pretended to be asleep, but before that I made sure that your father was lying behind me. Oh, I had never been that frightened in my
life. And you know, what was my biggest fear at that moment? I feared the most that your grandfather would wake up! -
Why? Why would you fear that? Grandpa would protect you! You had to wake him up!
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You are completely right. But this is exactly why he had to be asleep! If he was awake, he would try to protect us, he would fight. But do you remember how many men there were? Five men! He would never win, but don’t say that to him, he still believes that if he was awake, we would be in safety.
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And what then? What happened when they came in?
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Then they found our box, took it, and disappeared.
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Really? They took all your money? Everything?
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Yes, everything, they took everything, but of course, left us our bags with clothes.
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And what did you do? Did you go to the police? Did they find them?
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No, of course, we could not go to the police. Remember, we were considered bad elements of society, they would be happy to know that we lost everything. Besides, what would we tell them? We wanted to escape your regime and move to Turkey? – Kenzhe smiled at her little granddaughter. – We were left to ourselves.
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What did you do then? – Aisha’s eyes were glistening with interest. She had never imagined that her grandparents had experienced that kind of adventure in their lives.
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When they left, I woke your grandfather up, and told him everything. He was so upset, and angry, but we had to decide what to do next, and we decided to exit the train on the next stop, in Kyzylorda. We both felt that this was the beginning of the end, we had no place to go, we were considered bad elements, and we could get arrested any time for any reason.
Kenzhe looked out the window, the day had already started. She looked at the pale blue sky, and dreamily smiled: -
And then the sunrise saved us! – She said triumphantly. – We exited the train and moved through all those people around, who stared at us, but we kept moving. Our boy was on my shoulders; your grandfather carried the bags with the remains of our property, and we just kept moving, with no idea where we were going. But then…we saw the sunrise, it was so beautiful, and so uplifting to see. I remember that we stopped for a moment, and just looked at the sunrise. – Kenzhe quietly laughed. – I think people at the station considered us lunatics, but it did not matter at all. After looking at the sunrise, that tragedy at night seemed to be just a very bad dream. We felt happy, I guess. And indeed we were happy: we were alive, and I felt so grateful for that. Then, I turned to your grandfather and said that we should go to my sister. She lived in Kyzylorda at that time, but there was a problem with that idea. She was married to a Party member. We were afraid that her husband would be against us, but somehow after looking at the sunrise, it felt that everything would be fine. And it was indeed fine.
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And he did not do anything bad to you?
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No, no. Instead, he offered us his home as our shelter, and then he taught your grandfather to work at the train station. He was very kind to us, and I really don’t know what it would be like if he closed the door to his home as soon as he saw us. He had a very warm and generous heart; and my sister too was very kind. They both helped us to get through that time, when people had no food and no idea where to live and how. We also suffered a lot from hunger, but not as much as others. – Kenzhe sighed, and straightened up in her seat. Suddenly she looked at the watch and said: – But you know, it is already time for you to go and get ready for school. First, go and wake up your sisters. They must also have a breakfast before school.