Of Cheese and Mustard Seeds

Furqan was halfway through his cheese omelette when a horrible feeling of nausea rose within him. He stopped eating and became very still , acutely aware of what might happen next. Within minutes , he felt a dull throbbing ache grow in his head. Alarmed , he began to riffle through his pockets for his meds before it struck him that he wasn't carrying them. He cursed bitterly. But then , no one expects to have a dang migraine attack at 8:30 AM. Not even him , with his one year history of it and its attendant misery. God , this one feels pretty bad , he thought to himself.

He was still getting a grip on himself when the chair across his table jerked back a foot. He looked up from the half-finished breakfast on his plate to see who was taking it. Only , no one was taking it.

A couple of tables over a young lady gasped as her plate toppled off the table's edge and smashed to pieces on the floor , the food scattering in an unsightly mess. Her male companion tried to calm her down and took charge as a waiter approached their table.

Furqan noticed his fork trembling and clinking in his plate on its own , and he held it down with his right hand. Things seemed slightly out of focus now. He looked up to see the ceiling fan swinging from its hook and creaking loudly. Oh oh. To his left , a table crashed violently into the wall. A lady shrieked. 'It's An Earthquake !' screamed someone in a trembling voice. The owner of the place was already backing out of the exit , a terrified look frozen on his pale face. A couple of brave waiters were still inside guiding the few remaining customers outside. One of them now came to him and helped him get outside.


Later that day , he woke up in his bolted-down bed feeling numb all over. It took him a couple of minutes to recollect the morning's events. He turned on his TV and put the local news channel on. They were in the middle of a breathless story about a daring bank robbery that had taken place a few hours back. And then it came. A little picture of Morning Star Cafe' appeared in a corner of the screen as the newsreader informed viewers of the 'strange occurrence.' Eyewitness accounts of people who'd experienced the 'frightening tremors' and video footage of the 'wreckage' inside were followed by perplexed geophysicists who repeatedly said that their instruments hadn't picked up any seismic activity whatsoever. No similar incidents had been reported elsewhere in the city.

Mildly relieved to discover that nobody had been hurt back at the cafe' , Furqan then flipped channels until he came across a televangelist who animatedly testified that those with faith as much as a grain of mustard seed could move mountains.

'What do you know , old man,' he said loudly and then swore off cheese for all of eternity.