I seriously doubted that the pioneers used tinfoil to make their Christmas stars, but I rolled my eyes and went along with it. Really, what choice did I have? We were almost halfway through the year and things were still tense between me and Dad. His pathetic tree just made me miss home. And Mom, too. I knew if she’d been here, she would have found a way to make Christmas special somehow. Dad was trying his best, but his best just wasn’t good enough for me. Let’s face it: without Mom, we were lost.
And the thirty-first wasn’t much different. There was no Dick Clark, no corny singing, and no confetti at midnight. You see, New Year’s didn’t exist here — at least, not the New Year’s I’d always known. The Jewish New Year was celebrated back in September with apples and honey and ram’s horns. Called Rosh Hashanah, it’s so different from the New Year’s I was used to that I didn’t even realize what it was until it was over.
Of course there was Hanukkah, which I guess was nice in its own way. I mean, what’s not to like about chocolate coins and candles and spinning tops? Marla invited me to her family’s Hanukkah party. It was fun, but the smell of frying oil from the pancakes and donuts made me nauseous.
And the snow? It melted after only a couple of hours — just enough time to remind me, yet again, of everything I had lost.
Chapter 20
Nasir was shocked when Mackenzie brought a camera to the store. She walked through the door, pulled it out of her jacket pocket, and pointed it at him.
“Say cheese!”
Snap.
“What are you doing?” he asked, holding his hands out to stop her. “Please put that away.” His eyes flicked nervously up and down the aisles, checking for customers.
“Uh-uh,” she replied, skipping towards him and pulling his hands away playfully.
“Smile!” Snap … snap…
But Nasir was too worried to smile.
“Mackenzie, please!” he repeated.
She sighed softly and lowered the camera down to the countertop.
“Relax. I won’t put these pictures up in my room or my locker or anything. I just want one of you for my wallet. Something for me to look at in private … Okay?”
He hesitated and glanced towards the door. “But what if someone sees us?”
She looked around the store and shrugged. “What are you talking about? There’s no one here. And if anyone does come in, I’ll pretend I don’t know you — as usual.”
“I don’t know, I don’t think it’s a good idea …”
But she wouldn’t listen.
“Come on … Don’t be so paranoid!” she said, plucking a small bag of potato chips off a nearby shelf and tossing it at his head. “Lighten up!”
“Hey!” he said, ducking away from the flying bag.
“Just trying to get you to smile,” she replied, lob-bing a package of mints at him.
Her plan worked. When he started laughing, she picked the camera back up, aimed it at him, and shot.
Snap … snap…
After that, he began to loosen up. Within a few minutes, he began to like it. He even posed a few times, jumping up on the counter and making funny faces behind the cash register. Nasir couldn’t remember ever acting so crazy before. It felt good. Then he had an idea.
“Okay, give me the camera, please,” he said, holding out his hand.
Mackenzie raised her eyebrows suspiciously. “Why?”
“I want to take one of you. If you can hide one in your wallet, so can I.”
She grinned wide and her face turned red like a tomato. Nasir loved to see her blush. Without hesitation, she handed him the camera and began to get herself ready. He aimed the lens in her direction and watched her in the small viewscreen. She was combing her silky yellow hair with her fingers and licking her lips to make them shine. He watched her longer than necessary, pretending to frame the shot. But really it was a good excuse to stare. He couldn’t help himself — she was so beautiful.
When she was ready, she placed one hand on her hip, flipped her hair off her shoulder, and smiled. She held that pose perfectly still. Nasir zoomed in, then zoomed back out. He was stalling, holding her image in his hands, forcing her to wait. As his finger hovered over the shutter button, he realized something about the girl on the other end of the lens. Even though he was holding the camera, Nasir suddenly felt exposed — but in the best way possible. Mackenzie saw him — really saw him, understood him, and believed in him in a way that nobody else ever had before. With all the lies circling around his life, she was the truest thing he had going. He would never let her go — no matter what his parents said.
His eyes rose from the viewscreen and met hers. He wanted to tell her what he was feeling, but didn’t know where to start. His mouth dropped open, the words formed on his tongue, but in the end, nothing came out. Mackenzie shifted her weight from one foot to the other and cleared her throat impatiently.
“Okay … I’m ready, Nasir,” she mumbled, lips still frozen in their smile.
His eyes shifted back to the screen. He pushed the shutter button.
Snap.
And greedily took another and another.
Snap … snap…
When they had filled the memory card, they chose their favourite shots and Mackenzie left to print them at a nearby camera shop. Nasir waited impatiently for her to return. The idea of hiding her picture in his wallet and looking at her face whenever he wanted was thrilling.
It didn’t stay in his wallet for long, however. That night after his parents and little sisters had gone to bed, he brought it out. The room was dark, but as his eyes adjusted to the light he could make out her face and her glowing white skin. When he finally felt himself drifting off, he slipped it carefully under his pillow to keep it safe.
He dreamed great dreams of their future together.
Chapter 21
It happened on the sixteenth of January — the day we skipped school and Marla thought it would be a kick to go shopping in the Arab souk.
That was the day that changed everything.
“So, are you sure it’s safe to be there on our own?” I asked as we bounced up and down in our seats on the bus to the Old City. Over the past few months the two of us had been all over Jerusalem and I’d long ago given up any qualms about dying a violent death at the hands of a terrorist. But today I just couldn’t get those early words of warning from Dad’s professor friend out of my head.
You’re in the Middle East, now— a long way from North America. There are people and places in this city that can be dangerous for young girls on their own.
But Marla didn’t seem worried at all. “Of course it’s safe,” she assured me. “You’ve been there before, haven’t you?”
“Yeah, but Dad was with me.”
“Don’t worry, it’s no big deal as long as we stick together. Trust me, it’ll be fun. We’ll get some good bargains.”
Still, I was nervous. I couldn’t shake a nagging feeling that this was a mistake.
We arrived and began making our way through the winding streets of the market. Marla knew exactly what she was looking for.
“Today I want to get a purse, a pair of sandals,