by Zanib Mian
like a hyena who was about to be eaten by a bigger, scarier creature for dinner.
CHAPTER 20
It was the scariest thing I’d ever seen. It was terrifying and hairy and it stank. It stank so bad. It was kind of like a man, because it had a head and a body and arms and legs. But it wasn’t a man. And it was dirty. So dirty. My brain told me it was a . . .
Daniel screamed, too.
We both ran down a long road. I looked over my shoulder. The zombie was still coming, with its arm out, trying to grab us. I ran harder.
When I couldn’t see him anymore, I stopped and tried to catch my breath.
Daniel, on the other hand, and started wailing like never before.
I wasn’t well trained in dealing with crying bullies, or zombies. I took a deep breath and imagined H2O flying down to help us. Swooping around to keep an eye out in case the zombie turned up again.
And then I sat down next to Daniel on the sidewalk. Even though there was loads of gross dried-up chewing gum on it.
When I said that, I felt like a liar, because I was scared, too, and I didn’t really know if it was going to be OK. But that’s what grown-ups always say when someone is crying—so I said it.
What would they do right now?
“Daniel, what would your parents do if they were lost?”
Daniel wiped some snot from his nose with the back of his hand. “They would look for the way on their phones.”
“Right. We don’t have phones.”
“What would yours do? If they were in trouble and were going to die, like us?”
I had to try very hard not to laugh at how dramatic Daniel was being. He actually thought this was the end of the world. Well, the zombie thing was quite scary. But H2O didn’t have to hold back, so I imagined him rolling on the floor laughing instead.
“Well, anytime there’s a big problem, my parents always ask Allah. That’s one thing they keep telling me a lot, to ask Allah for everything. They say it every day.”
Daniel sat up. There was something suddenly different about his face.
“And did you?” he asked.
“Ermm. Actually, no. I forgot,” I said sheepishly.
“Ask him!” shouted Daniel. And for a moment, I thought he was going to become the bully Daniel again. But he just sat there waiting, with
I closed my eyes and whispered a few words, in English. I didn’t know the exact Arabic prayer for being lost with a bully and being chased by a zombie, but my dad said that Allah knows all the languages in the universe, so we can talk to him however we need to.
Allah, I’m sorry I forgot to ask you before, but we’re kind of lost, and we need your help. We lost all our teachers and we don’t know where they are. We don’t even know where WE are, actually. And also, there might be a zombie trying to catch us. I’m trying to look after Daniel, but he keeps crying a lot. Please, can you help us? I don’t know how, but I guess you know. Thank you. I love you.
I opened my eyes to find Daniel’s face right next to mine. “Well? Did you ask him? Is he going to help us?”
“Of course He will. Allah always helps.”
“But do you think he heard you? You were whispering so quietly I couldn’t even hear you, and I’m right next to you.”
“Yes, He did. He’s God!” I said in my
voice, but then I realized I should be kinder, and explained, “God can hear everything, even whispers, and even what you’re saying to yourself in your own head.”
“Oh, OK,” said Daniel.
Then, because Daniel still looked so frightened and sad, I said, “Don’t worry, you’ll get back home to your mom and dad, and so will I.”
“Yeah, if they even notice I’m gone, or if they even care,” said Daniel.
“Of course they care. That’s what parents do. Anyway, I think you’re a bit hard to miss. I mean, if you weren’t there, I would notice.”
“Really?”
Daniel seemed pleased to hear that, for like 0.8 seconds, then his shoulders drooped again.
“Yes, but . . . my parents . . . all they care about is my little sister, Suzy. Because she’s always in the hospital.”
“Is she . . . is she going to be OK?”
“I don’t know, she’s always sick and having operations . . .” He started wailing again, as if something was hurting a whole lot. “And I do care about her, I do. I do . . . But what about me? I might as well not be there. I just get in the way when they need to look after her.”
Poor Daniel. And I stared at him because I didn’t know what to say. So I just moved closer to him, even though he stank of pee, and I said, “I don’t know what I would do if that happened to me.”
Daniel looked at me as if I had said something that really, really helped. But I had just said the truth, because I didn’t know what else to say. He sniffed really hard and wiped his eyes before looking up at me like he was waiting for me to say more. So I said, “Yeah. You must be
I mean like strong inside, not strong like
although I think Batman is strong inside as well.”
Daniel smiled a snotty smile.
Is this the first time he’s ever smiled at me? I thought. That felt really weird. Didn’t he hate me?
“So, what now? Do we just sit here?” asked Daniel.
“I don’t think so. The might find us.”
“What, then?”
“Let’s walk.”
CHAPTER 21
So we got up and carried on walking the same way we’d been going before.
Daniel was calmer now. I was kind of proud of him, and of myself. Even though he did smell because of the pee in his pants.
After we’d walked for a few minutes, I knew. I knew why this place was so familiar.
I took Daniel’s hand and started running. And there it was: the huge dome of
I loved this mosque. This was where I had had my first halal sweets. This was where a man had given me money, just for being cute. This was where I had stood many times, sometimes with Mom and sometimes with Dad, and with hundreds of other people, all praying at the same time. This place was safe.
We ran and ran till we reached the big space outside the mosque, where I had tried to ride my scooter once. I looked over my shoulder, and . . .
The zombie was hot on our heels again. How did he do that?!
We pumped up the screaming even more and ran right into the mosque. Mosques are usually quiet places, so all the commotion made people come out from all around and come up to us.
There was a man who was wearing one of those Arab-style long things that go right down to the feet. I had one in white. My grandma bought the thobe for me from Mecca. The man had lots of wrinkles and lots of white hair and he was using his hands to signal us to calm down. He was also saying something, but I couldn’t hear him, because we were still screaming.
Then I told him everything. It was weird— I felt like I could hear my own voice from far away and it sounded really hysterical. I told him we had gotten lost and tried to find our own way to the Science Museum and then we’d gotten chased by a zombie. Then I realized
so I quickly told him that we asked Allah for help and ended up here.
The man smiled like he was very proud of us and like he knew all the secrets of the world.
“And where is this zombie, my child?” he asked.
Before I could look around to see where he was, Daniel started pointing and squealing, “There, he’s there!”
The man gently took my shoulders and made me look again.
“My dear son,” he said. (I wasn’t his son, but sometimes people in the mosque who don’t know you love you like you’re their son.) “That is no zombie. That is a homeless man. And it looks as if he was trying to help you.”
I felt like a complete
because it WAS
a homeless man. And he wasn’t chasing us. He had just noticed that we were kids, all by ourselves, and he actually cared enough to try to help—but we had run away from him.
I felt pretty bad. I waved at the homeless man sheepishly and he waved back and gave me a yellow-toothed grin. Somebody had sat him down with a cup of tea.
Then the man in the thobe, whose name was Mohamed, sat us down and called our school. A younger man, in jeans and a T-shirt that said
came over and gave us some juice and
This made Daniel’s day. (It made mine, too.)
I felt pretty good at this point.
The school had been frantic and had already called the police. Apparently, everyone had been worrying nonstop, especially poor Charlie, and both Daniel’s parents and mine had been told.
A policeman and a policewoman showed up about ten minutes later to talk to us. We also got to talk to Eddy, the homeless not-so-zombie man. He was very smiley, even though he doesn’t own many clothes or have a house to live in.
He laughed.
As soon as he spoke, I liked him, because he had an accent from up north that sounded just like Reza’s. We told him we were sorry for running away from him, and offered him some of our sweets. He liked the red ones the best, just like everyone else I know.
Next, our parents turned up. First mine, and then Daniel’s. My mom held on to me and cried and cried, and my dad held on to her.
Everyone decided that it was best that we didn’t go to the Wonderlab, as we had had enough adventures for the day. Daniel and I didn’t mind. I wondered if he just wanted to stay near his mom, like I did.
Then Dad said, “Come on, Trouble. Let’s get you home.” And he heaved me onto his shoulder just to make me laugh.
CHAPTER 22
When everything had settled down that evening, Charlie’s mom rang my mom and asked if she could bring Charlie over to see me, because
and wanted to make sure I was OK with his own eyes.
So Charlie came over, and we ate cookies with chocolate milk, and I told him all about the zombie thing and about Daniel peeing himself. Then after we finished almost peeing ourselves with laughter, I sat up straight and told Charlie that I felt bad for laughing, because now that I had gotten to know him a bit.
“OK?” said Charlie.
But he didn’t seem too sure, so I said, “You’ll see. Scout’s honor!” and saluted at him. I wasn’t a Scout, and Charlie just
again, but I think he believed me.
A couple of days later, my parents invited Daniel and his family to our house for iftar. They all wanted to discuss every detail of that
of being lost on the Underground. Mr. and Mrs. Green seemed nice. But they were paying him lots of attention now. His dad kept ruffling his hair, and his mom kept touching his shoulder like she wanted to check he was still there. I had a feeling that that was why they’d left his sister, Suzy, with her aunt for this visit—so Daniel could be their star. They told Mom and Dad that they were very grateful to the mosque for helping us. Then Daniel told my parents all about how I asked Allah for help and it was only after that that we were saved, so it must have been Allah that did it.
Of course, I had already told them my version of the story, but they were
to hear it from him.
Daniel’s parents wanted to go to the mosque to thank them again personally, so we had the idea that they should come with us on Eid day and do it then.
Everything was looking really good. I could hardly believe that in just a few days, Daniel had gone from being the person I liked least of all to being my friend. He was trying to be Charlie’s friend, too, which was a bit harder because they’re
from each other. But I had been an
again and pulled them together and I was completely super sure they’d get along. Charlie and I had even asked Daniel to play soccer with us on the playground, because we realized that nobody had even asked him before. It turned out that he was better than anyone in the whole class at being goalie. But there was still one thing that was bothering me, so I just blurted it out:
The air in the room suddenly got very thick, like we were on a
with less oxygen or something. Everyone looked very awkward. And since Maryam always giggles in awkward situations, she put her hand over her mouth, but I could still see her shoulders shaking and so could Esa, because he pointed at her with his cheeky grin.
“Where did you get an idea like that?” said Dad.
I suddenly realized that I’d gotten it from Daniel, but Daniel would be in trouble if I said anything. I looked at him really quickly and looked away, then I said, “I, erm, heard it somewhere and I even asked Reza, and he said we will have to live in Pakistan.”
Dad laughed, but Mom nudged him because she could see that I was serious. Then she smiled politely at the Greens, who looked really uncomfortable. Daniel was color-matching his skin with the
on the plate. I wondered if he could feel it when he went red.
Dad explained that that was never going to happen, and kids make things up all the time. He said that I should always talk to an adult to get the facts right when I hear something like that.
Then Daniel blurted out,
Everyone’s heads turned to Daniel really fast. Daniel’s head hung toward the floor.
“Well, I heard my cousin Brian saying it, so I just said it to Omar to make him feel bad because I didn’t think he’d want to be my friend. But I’m sorry now, anyway.”
Mrs. Green’s face was doing the color-matching thing with the tomatoes now.
And Mr. Green was saying, “Oh, Daniel.” And he was burying his face in his hands.
And then Mrs. Green was saying, “I’m so, so sorry.”
And Daniel was saying, “I’m so, so sorry.”
And Dad was saying, “Hey, it’s okay. Kids will be kids.”
And Mom was looking from one person’s face to another’s.
And then, suddenly, they all went quiet and looked at me.
“Omar, I am very proud that you are Daniel’s friend, and I wouldn’t want you going anywhere,” Mr. Green said.
Phew, I thought.
I imagined H2O peeking in through the window. He was tiny now, because I didn’t need a huge dragon to make me feel better anymore. He winked at me and waved with his tail before flying back off into his cloud.
CHAPTER 23
It was one of the best days of the year—Eid! And we were going to spend this one with Mrs. Rogers and the Greens. The night before, I had stood at my window
really, really hoping it would be Eid. The moon tells us when Ramadan is over, because it’s a new month in the Islamic calendar. If the new moon can’t be seen, it’s basically not Eid for another day. When that happens, it’s
The mosque is always very busy on Eid day. Even people who don’t normally go to the mosque to pray go on Eid day. So it is absolutely
We sat on the carpet, waiting for the prayers to start and watching the people pour in. I like how every single person is different. Different shapes and different sizes, even for adults. Like, fully grown adults can be really or quite . And you can get really tall thin ones (who remind me of the BFG) and short large ones and all the sizes in between.
The mosque is great, because you get all types of people all in one place and you’re usually sitting still for a while, so it’s the perfect place to people-watch.
One thing I’ve figured out is that some people have the kind of faces that seem quite perfect—they have a straight nose, and maybe good skin and nice lips—but they still don’t look nice. Like, I wouldn’t want to be stuck in an elevator with them. And they definitely don’t smile a lot. Then there are other faces that might have skin that’s a bit bad, and maybe their nose isn’t the prettiest, or their beard grows in funny directions—but they look really nice! And they loads. I�
�ve thought about it a lot, and I think it’s all to do with what’s happening
If they’re always having nice thoughts and are good and kind people, they always look lovely, no matter what. And if they’re awful people with rotten thoughts, they’ll look horrible. Daniel had been smiling a lot more since we got lost together, and his face was definitely looking much
While the imam led the prayers, the Greens watched from the back. Afterward, they said it was absolutely beautiful, like nothing they’d ever seen before.
Next, we were all going to our home for an
That’s the best part of Eid. We had presents for Daniel and his family, too—even Suzy, who had joined us this time.
Daniel rode with me in the Peanut, and on the way he pulled out a little wrapped gift from his jacket pocket and grinned at me.
“It’s another Eid present, but for Charlie. It’s a Batman key ring . . . Do you think he’ll like it?”
“Super definitely.” I grinned back.
The feast covered every single centimeter of our dining table, which we call the Eid Table on Eid. We always put piles and piles of things on the Eid Table because we have lots of friends and family to visit. This year there was:
But what my mouth wanted most of all were the sweet desserts, like the delicious Pakistani thing my mom makes with thin noodles and milk, called ,
and Maryam’s special
Maryam might be super annoying most of the time, but she’s getting REALLY good at baking brownies . . .