A Handful of Dates

“A Handful of Dates” is a short story about a young Muslim boy who has a great deal of respect and love for his grandfather. The young boy always talks about his grandfather, about what a great man he is and how much of an idol he is to him. But, when he starts asking his grandfather about their neighbour Masood he starts to think very differently of his grandfather. All the land he thought belonged to his grandfather since the world was created did not actually belong to his grandfather for very long at all. He asked his grandfather why Masood had sold his land and his grandfather had told him that it was because of his women and that soon before Allah decides to take Masood’s soul the last third of the land will belong to him too. The young boy remembered the three wives that Masood had and had started to really think about what his grandfather had just told him. While they were talking Masood was walking over. Masood told the grandfather that they were harvesting the dates that day and asked him if he wanted to be there. When they went to harvest the dates Masood had been doing all the work while the young boy’s grandfather just slept. After they had collected the dates the men divided the sacks of dates amongst themselves, but Masood had not taken any. The boy’s grandfather had taken five sacks and then told Masood that he still owed him fifty pounds. The young boy felt very ashamed of his grandfather, the man that he had always looked up to and admired. He had run up ahead of his grandfather and he started too built up feelings of hatred towards his grandfather for the things he had done to Masood. To get rid of the secret that he was hiding within himself he decided to put his finger in his throat and throw up all the dates that he had eaten.