ABSTRACT
Fatima’s hand reached up under her armpit and then slowly traced down her taut, hour-glass body as far down as her hips. Had her younger brother been watching her closely, his intimate and affectionate knowledge of his sister would have enabled him to detect a hint of a smile light up what, to him, was her beautiful face. At this rushed breakfast time, his head was as usual practically in the cereal bowl and he remained therefore oblivious to the fact that she was sizing up her current body shape. Like most 11-year-old boys, Rashid paid little attention to the morning newspaper and preferred instead to muse over the cartoon or latest offer on the back of the Kellogg’s packet. He remained thus in ignorant bliss about the latest findings of yet another national survey concerning the Norwegian population’s body mass index. On reading the headline, Fatima’s thoughts had immediately returned to last night’s Facebook exchange, and she’d began to wonder how she’d look in Pia’s new designer dress. She rather fancied herself in the sixties, Jackie Onassis-style shift dress and she concluded that the ivory linen with its graphite top stitching on her mocha-coloured skin would, quite simply, be stunning. Theodor couldn’t fail to notice her in that outfit!
