Side by Side by Jana Kelley

Author:Jana Kelley
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781596699298
Publisher: New Hope Publishers

CHAPTER 16

Halimah, Samia, and Howeida stepped off the bus in front of Afra Mall, the only mall in Khartoum. Though all three girls preferred shopping at the open markets, Howeida said they should experience this modern version of shopping. She insisted that everyone else in the world shopped at malls.

Howeida led the way toward the two-story building. “We’re going to ride the escalators.”

“What for?” Samia asked.

“Because Hamid is taking me to Dubai for our honeymoon. There are lots of malls and escalators in Dubai and I don’t know how to ride one. I don’t want to get there and fall off.”

They stopped in the parking lot to buy a drink from a young boy selling water bottles out of a cooler. They stood outside for a few minutes, watching children ride on the kiddie rides and play on a merry-go-round.

“That will be you in about a year, Howeida,” Halimah teased, “chasing the first of many little Howeidas and Hamids around a playground.”

“Insha’Allah,” she said, tossing her empty bottle on the ground and walking toward the mall. “It is too hot to ride the bus home. Hamid sent me more money. When we are done here, I’ll hire a taxi to take us home.”

Samia and Halimah followed, tossing their bottles on the ground as well.

The inside of the building was sweltering. The air-conditioner had apparently broken and Halimah felt as if they had walked into a giant oven rather than a shopping mall. At least the souqs were breezy. Something could be said for tradition and open-air shopping.

To the right, they saw what looked like a metal staircase. That, Howeida told them, was the escalator. The metal steps rose smoothly and quickly. What happened to them when they reached the next level was a mystery to Halimah. They seemed to disappear into the floor and new steps appeared at the bottom. The trick would be to step onto the bottom step without falling backward as it moved forward and up.

“We have to act like we know what we are doing, Girls!” Howeida said, “We don’t want people to think we have never seen one of these.”

“But we haven’t!” Samia said, eyeing the machine suspiciously. Howeida glared at her and then marched ahead confidently. She stepped onto the bottom step and simultaneously grabbed the right handrail. Samia and Halimah watched her float upward.

“We can do this,” Samia said. She teetered a bit when the stair took off, but Halimah was standing behind her and steadied her as they went. They gripped the moving, rubber railing tightly and glided to the top where Howeida was waiting.

“Now,” she said, her voice a little more confident than it had been before, “we go down.” The girls followed her up and down a few more times and then decided to stay on the second floor where there was a small food court. Howeida pulled out her money from Hamid and bought each of them a shawarma sandwich. They sat at one of the tables that lined the food court.

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