QURSUM QASIM
Bedtime Stories
Tell me I’m pretty. Tell me I move just right. Tell me I fit into your life. Tell me I cook really well, not too spicy, and I don’t even have an accent and I drink like it’s not forbidden to me. Tell me I’m not like other girls, not clingy, not needy, not too hot to intimidate, not too ugly to be unfuckable, not high maintenance, not demanding, not transactional, not selfish, not afraid to let a man be a man.
Tell me it’s weird my mother still covers her hair after all these years here, you would never force me to do anything or to hide myself away, and why do you need to pretend you’re just a friend around her and when exactly am I going to tell my father we’re together, he seems like a cool guy who loves to barbecue and he wouldn’t possibly be upset with his good girl, even when she shames him.
Tell me you could totally see us married, just not right now, it’s the economy you know, housing is too expensive and we’ve both got student loans, and wouldn’t it be great to move into a house of our own, next year, maybe the year after, we’re both too young to hurry, and I’d make such a great mom and children need a yard to play in.
Tell me no one gets you like I do, no one understands and the people at work are all idiots and the new manager, she’s a bitch out to get you, she’s just jealous coz you’re smarter and you could totally do her job and do it better, it’s not like business school is hard or anything, and it would be great if I could pay for the beach vacation this year, you’ll totally pay me back, and we can celebrate my promotion, those diversity quotas are finally good for something.
Tell me I’m still pretty and you still want to fuck me after all these years, the threesome is just to spice things up, I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to do but wouldn’t it be fun to explore together, she’s not hotter or younger or tighter than me, and it would just be one night, we never have to see her again and your birthday is coming up, it would be the perfect present.
Tell me it’s not me it’s you, you need to get your life together and I deserve so much better, and you don’t want to hold me back, labels are so last century any way and if I want we could just keep living together, everyone has an open relationship these days and it doesn’t mean you don’t love me, we just want different things, we could still be friends and can I keep the dog, there’s no place for him at your mom’s place and he likes me better anyway.
Qursum Qasim is an immigrant, Muslim writer from Pakistan. She was a 2021 finalist for the PEN America Emerging Voices Fellowship. She works on women’s economic empowerment and lives in Washington D.C. Twitter: @qqasim21