When Pizza Is an Adventure!

Asalamu alaikum,

Last night around 1am I was in the kitchen about to make a late night snack for Saad before he went back to sleep. As I am heating his food, Tariq comes down and says he feels like pizza, get ready, lets go. At first I don't believe him, I mean come on it's 1am, and every time I suggest pizza he says- no, they probably don't taste good, and the pizzas are too small.

He goes to get his wallet and I realize he's not joking. I run upstairs to get my abaya and hijab. While I am in the room I have the strangest urge to throw on a pair of jeans instead of my shalwar ("American woman"+"American Food/PIZZA!"=the need to wear jeans), so I grab the only pair of jeans I currently own and change. I put on the abaya and wrap my hijab, pull up the bottom edge to make a niqab(I feel more comfortable when we go out at night this way-less stares), and rush back down stairs.

We take the big bike(Honda 125) and head out. Saad wants to go but it is too late to be taking him out, so he stays with Tariq's sister and watches cartoons until we get back.

We zoom through the streets, most of them are quiet. Along the main road there are some juice stands still serving, and a couple of restaurants. There is the hum of generators here and there, because of load shedding.

Finally we get to the restaurant, walk in and check out the menu. The guy says they have a special after midnight-buy one pizza get one free. So we pick out two pizzas and also get a side of chicken wings. We sit and wait for the pizzas, then they bring them over and we head out.

Have you ever tried to bring home two pizzas and a box of wings while sitting side saddle on a motorcycle? It was an interesting ride home, with a quick stop to get a 2 liter of Pepsi.

So there I am sitting side saddle on the bike behind Tariq, with these two pizzas and box of wings on my lap, my left hand gripping the boxes tightly(oh, I hope I don't squish the pizzas!), and my right arm wrapped around Tariq's waist to make sure I don't go flying off the bike. We zoom back towards the house, trying to get back before the pizzas get too cold, my abaya and hijab are flapping in the wind, and I've got one foot on the foot stand and other one dangling freely, the air rushing over it. As we turn the corner onto our street, the tip of the toe of my chapple touches the ground briefly as we lean to the left.

Safely home, with our pizzas(not squished at all!), we all sit down to enjoy our late night meal.