Zara was a 13-year-old confident girl. She was the only child of Mr and Mrs Amir and they adored her. She loved to bake and cook in the kitchen with her mother, but her parents did not allow her to do that when she was alone. Zara was an obedient child, but she did not like this restriction imposed by her parents as she thought that she was old enough to handle kitchen chores on her own.

One fine day, Zara’s parents decided to go grocery shopping but they had to leave Zara at home due to the coronavirus pandemic. They gave her all the safety instructions and reminded her not to open the door for strangers. Zara waved them goodbye and came back inside. She sat on a brown couch in the TV lounge and turned the television on.

She was looking for a channel to watch and while changing the channels, she came across a cooking channel, where a lady was teaching to bake a chocolate cake. Suddenly, an idea clicked in her mind, she quickly took a paper and a pen and noted the recipe down. Then she rushed towards the kitchen and quickly gathered all the required ingredients. This it did not take much time because she knew where everything in the kitchen was kept since she cooked with her mother.

She was thrilled and excited to prove that she was capable of baking on her own. She thought to herself that what can possibly go wrong, after all, she was now a teenager. She followed the recipe step by step and then poured the batter in a baking tin and put it in an oven to bake. While her cake was in the oven she decided to go and watch her favourite show on the television. She fell asleep sitting on the couch.

After about three hours Mr and Mrs Amir came back exhausted from grocery shopping. As they entered the house they sensed that something was wrong. The whole house smelt terrible, they rushed to the kitchen and found that the oven was on fire. They were terrified, they searched for Zara and found her sleeping on the couch.

Zara’s father quickly grabbed her and rushed outside to the lawn. He then called the fire brigades. By this time Zara had woken up and became aware or what was happening. She was more scared than she had ever been in her whole life. The fire brigades arrived at the scene and quickly put the fire out.

Zara’s family then came inside. Zara was still shaking from fear, the poor girl knew that she was in trouble. Zara’s mother then calmly asked Zara about what had just happened. She hesitantly narrated the whole story and then started crying.

Her mother hugged her saying, “Baby, we are glad that you are safe. This is why we don’t let you cook or bake alone in the kitchen. My dear, a stove or oven are not toys to play with and adult supervision is necessary to prevent such accidents. And, this is what happens when we don’t listen to our parents. Now I want you to promise me to not try doing anything in the kitchen when we are not around.”

Zara promised her mother that she will not bake or cook on her own until she is allowed to do so by her parents. Zara learned her lesson the hard way, but we must learn a lesson from Zara and always obey our parents.

Published in Dawn, Young World, July 25th, 2020