7
I was different; I enjoyed every minute
of it, so it was a pleasure to me to come
here and talk a bit. I think nobody
expected that, but they grew into it at
the end, talking to each other without
knowing each other at first,
encouraging each other to come back in
again. I liked that a lot of, seeing
people change and feel happier. I think
ties are most surely built by repetitions
and habits. I smiled again; this
sounded just like love. This love I felt
for my sister was of the same kind; it
was made of tiny bits of events, none of
them big. They had connected like the
dewdrops of a cobweb, supported by
tiny resistant threads. They grew a
deep joy into my heart.
For instance, when we arrived in the
US, we went to the library. The Public
Library in this place is a true treasure
land. Access to knowledge, I mean any kind of knowledge, is almost ridiculously easy
here, as it should be everywhere in the world.
So we met with a librarian and asked for a special audio book. She had not heard about
it. Soon, she said:
"Wait a minute as I look for one of our bookworms."
Sophie looked at me in disgust: "A worm?" I looked at her, puzzled: "A book warm?
Does she mean a book warming?"
To learn a new language was one thing; to use it daily was sometimes another thing.
After having filled up my water bottle, I climbed the stairway to the second
story of the gym. I peered at the first person working out there, surprised. I knew this
girl. She was a girl from Malaysia. I did not know she worked out. She held a book of
chemistry while stair climbing. She did not seem to notice anybody. I thought about
the sweat dripping on the pages, how it could damage a library book and how it could
affect her posture in a bad way. I had been a sport instructor for quite a while,
therefore I knew something about bad postures. But it was always hard to advise
anybody. So I put it off for later.
"Peace be upon you, sister Nur Adhan," I said, walking closer to make sure she
would notice me. She smiled. She always looked cute when she smiled because of her
round and tiny face, and her complexion seemed suddenly enlightened from inside.
8
"And peace be upon you, sister
Samy."
Sister, I thought, which one was the
real one, sister from blood or sister
from faith?
"What are you doing?"
"Oh! She shrugged, I applied for a
campus job in the Chemistry's
department. I wanted to be a clerk in
the library. Well! They asked me
questions. I failed, so, I was checking
the answers."
There was something much more
important than the right answer, I
thought. I had myself my share of
mistakes. As I showed up for a clerical
job in a child's care, two years earlier, I
was asked:
"Do you have a strong conviction?
See, we are looking for people who do
not have a strong conviction."
I hesitated, then slowly declared:
"Well… I happen to have a strong conviction… ugh… I am a Muslim. I am a
religious person."
The woman laughed, but I failed the interview. I sure was not prepared for the
meeting. However, Nur was probably more fluent than I in English. As I remembered
our last meeting during one of the International University reception, I said, teasingly:
"Dig in!"
Oh god! We were asked to dig in, and she began eating with her hands! After that,
nobody wanted to "dig in" the food she had touched!
Yes, these memories were the most precious; they were the ones we shared when we
got depressed; they were the ones that made us sisters.
I quickly paced along the wall; the upstairs were vibrating each time people
were shooting in the basketball fields below. The upstairs was a little bit like a deck
with a track hanging over the main courts. Seven laps made a mile; I usually ran over
one mile for warm up, most than most people. They would usually dart past you to
stop neat after five minutes, out of breath, certain they just had had a great warm up.
Somebody said one day the young ones can do whatever they want with their bodies,
but they do not do it because they do not know how it all works. Being older, I knew a
twenty years old could beat me in speed, but not in resistance. That was my privilege
over the years. I sometimes liked the treadmills in one corner because I could think
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