That night, everything was serene. The ceiling light was dimmed just right, the air-conditioner breathing a steady stream of cool blankets. Fa was resting - she deserves it - in bed, a hint of a contented smile on her lips. Nayla too, in her own plastic cocoon. After watching MacGyver on the ward's TV, and after performing the night prayers, I sat down, recollecting how it had been these past few months...

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I was a tourist in Scotland's Loch Ness. Waiting, while reading beside Fa. Fa's the eager one, no surprise, she had experienced it first hand. Ever so often Fa would suddenly grab my hands, and exclaimed, "Did you see that? A ripple?" I shrugged guiltily, for the umpteenth time. Missed it again. And again. And again. It's always the same thing: I stared across the surface, no movement, just a long, heightened expectation slowly ebbing away. I went back to my book.. and without fail, "Did you see that? A ripple?"

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Then it happened; at last, guided by Fa, I saw it: the ripple on her belly. That's our little girl there, telling us she's okay, exercising and playing on her own.

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The following ambigrams are drawn freehand at the hospital on the night of Nayla Najwa's birth. The first one reads 'americanhero' while the second reads when rotated 'barackobama':

Based on our previous: