lekk al

Lekk means to eat, but add the –al and it’s a command: Eat! I hear this often as I try to set down my spoon at the communal plate, stuffed from all the delicious rice and fish and onion gravy and spices. Lekkal! Eat! My sisters and brothers and mother look at me like I’m crazy. You, what do you think you’re doing? Why on earth are you putting down your spoon? No matter if it feels like I’ve been digging into my portion for years, no matter comatose I feel from bringing rice from plate to mouth. But I don’t resist much. I dig my spoon back into the feast, and keep going.