The mysterious room.

It was the first day of summer vacation 2014 and I was spending it at my mother's office because she had nobody to take care of me. My excitement disappeared soon after arriving. I was expected to sit still and be quiet. Mom gave me a stack of white papers, some colored pencils and told me to draw pictures and to keep to myself. I don't even like drawing and the office smelled like old garbage. It was filled with people sitting in rows on metal chairs. I always thought her office was on the top floor of a very high building with huge windows and shiny furniture, like the ones you see on TV.
Her office was on the bottom floor of an ugly brown building in Afgoye, Somalia, close to the Webi Shabeelie river, where I was not allowed to play. It was clear that there would be no playing today, I had to sit next to mother at this old desk in the corner of a large room filled with strange people. The grey walls were empty except for the dirt spots where people leaned against it. There was a ripped poster by the entrance about something called the di-ver-si-ty visa lottery, whatever that is. It was very disappointing and I just wanted to go back home. It was also very stuffy and most of the people smelled funny. They just sat there quietly staring at the floor and looking very nervous. My mother was typing at a computer and every few minutes she would get up and stuff papers into a huge rusted metal drawer. I had so many questions but she angrily shushed me every time I opened my mouth to ask her something. I was bored and annoyed. I felt like running through the room or singing at the top of my voice. I saw a space in front of all the sad people where I could do a singing performance to cheer them up.

As I am planning my show, a door at the end of a short hallway opened and a tiny bald man stepped out. He was dressed in gray pants and a gray sweater that hung loosely on his thin body. It was hard to see him because his clothes was the same color as the walls, but his voice was very loud. He called out a name and one of the people on the metal chairs got up so fast that he almost knocked his chair over. He walked fast and disappeared into the small room with the little man. This caused a fuss in the rest of the room. People were moving excitedly, straitening their clothes and smoothing down their hair. A low whisper hummed through the room, something was happening, but mother was unaware of anything, she just stared at the screen in front of her and as I touch her arm to show her, she grabbed me tightly and pushed me hard on my chair with a warning that it was the last time she is going to tell me to sit still!

So that is what I did, I sat still and watched. One by one people were called into the room and one by one they came back out. The room and the small man in the room had power over the people, because everybody that came out, were very different. Most of them came out very happy, smiling from ear to ear, jumping up and down and hugging everybody around them. They laughed loudly and they couldn't stand still. Then every so often somebody would come out looking so sad that it hurt my heart. Their shoulders hanged and they walked real slow. They looked pale and some of them were crying. I was surprised by how different people acted when they came out of that room. Mother always told me to calm down when I cry like that, but here she doesn't even notice. Maybe you can only cry like that when you are an adult? I wished I knew why they were so sad.

I am very curious about the mysterious room and the little man. What is going on in there? I needed to find out more and I wondered how I could get closer to it. There was a bathroom opposite the strange room at the end of the short dark hallway. I was not allowed to leave my spot next to mother but I would have to walk past that room if I have to go to the bathroom...
I politely asked to go to the bathroom and to my surprise mother said yes. She barked at me to be quick and I couldn't walk fast enough, but I slowed down as I walked past the room. I couldn't hear anything, but I noticed a narrow rectangular window high up on the door. I would have to ask somebody to pick me up to see through it and I think mother would explode if I do that.

There was nothing left for me to do but I didn't want to give up just yet. I went into the one stall bathroom and since I didn't really have to go, I decided to make paper animals with the hard towels stacked on the dirty clogged sink. The sink was half filled with murky water and I decided a few ducks were needed. I made a whole family of ducks, by squishing the paper into different size balls. If you use your imagination you can see them looking exactly like ducks. I launched them into the murky water and watched them slowly sink and changed color. They all turned into a brownish, shapeless mess and I was just going to take them out of the water when the door opened and my mother burst through. She looked mad. I must have taken too long!
"What are you doing?" she yelled.
"I told you to be fast!" She grabbed my hand and yanked me towards the door. I pulled back hard,
"I didn't wash my hands yet!"
My mother let go of my hand and I almost lost my balance, stumbling towards the sink and securing myself against it. I glared at her madly and she glared back.
"Do it! Wash your hands and hurry up!" She grabbed my hands and washed them for me then she pulled me out of the bathroom back toward her stupid desk. My hands are still dripping wet and I resisted and reached for the towels again but mom pushed me out the door with a angry whisper that sounded more like a growl.
"Let them air dry... This is not a place for children!"
The door of the small room opened right in front of us and a enraged young man rushed out. He was red in the face and yelled wildly. He slammed his fists against the door of the mysterious room and screamed into it;

"You just killed me, this is my death sentence! You are no better than El Shabab! You might as well cut my head of with a machete! You know that is what they will do to me now!"

Mother pushed me into the corner with her whole body. She was hurting me but I dared not move. The man scared me but mom's fear scared me more. I heard the man kicking the door and I stated to cry loudly. Mother put her hand over my mouth and whispered with urgency,
"hush baby hush, please be quiet... Just a little while, he'll be gone soon."
She was pleading with me and I swallowed my loudness. Her fear was streaked in tears over her face and I fitted my body tightly into hers and safely in her softness. I heard footsteps and I peaked over mother's shoulder and watched as two police officers wrestled the violent man away. Mother hugged me tighter and whispered into my ear;

"It's ok baby, it is over... I love you so much".
I took her face in my hands, "Why was he so mad Hooyo?"
She took my hands and place them by my sides then she wiped the tears of my face,
"Oh honey, you are still too little, you won't understand.... He just... he... didn't get his green card!"

Then she stood up and changed her voice;
"We will go back to my desk and you will sit still. See why you need to sit still! I am not going to tell you again!"

She pushed me back to her desk and we settled in. The rest of the room was calming down too and the people who were huddled in the corner took their places on the chairs again. Mom started typing right away and the little man came out of the room and loudly called another name. Except for his shaky voice, it was like nothing even happened.

What is a green card? Why did that man want a green card? Green is the ugliest color of all the colors. I took a pencil and started to draw. I drew the faces of all the people that came out of the mysterious room, the happy ones and the sad ones. I didn't draw the angry ones. I didn't like the angry ones, I wondered if they would be happier if the man in the mysterious room offered them a different color card? Maybe a rainbow card? That would surely make everybody happy.