Daughters of the Lamp by Nedda Lewers

Author:Nedda Lewers [Lewers, Nedda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2024-02-20T00:00:00+00:00

23

All Good Here

Sahara inhaled the cool morning air. Fixing things with her dad always made her breathe easier. She stood on a stool in the balcony holding the pulley’s wheel still while he attached a brake caliper that would prevent it from spinning out of control again. Everything had spun out of control last night.

The wedding was less than ten hours away, and Sahara still had no idea how to prove Magda was guilty, but at least she could help repair the pulley. It had been her idea to use bicycle brakes. She wasn’t the least bit surprised when her dad returned from the shop with a caliper from one of Fanta’s old bikes. A store that jam-packed with awesomeness was bound to house nifty odds and ends.

After successfully testing the safety, it was time to head to the central phone office to call Amitu. Her father’s navigation skills were way more reliable during the day, landing them in front of the office a little after 9:30.

“Are you sure Amitu won’t be asleep? It’s two thirty in the morning in New York,” Sahara asked her dad as they entered.

“Trust me, she’ll be up. Omar is like a brother to her. And the night before my wedding, Malak didn’t sleep a wink.” Her father chuckled.

Sahara shrugged and followed her dad toward the counter, where a bald clerk listened to a soccer match on a small radio. He instructed her father to write down their telephone number, then charged him ten pounds for fifteen minutes of call time, assigning him a number corresponding to one of the cubicles that filled the office. There wasn’t much in the way of privacy, save a thin plexiglass divider between each desk. Fortunately for Sahara, there were only a few patrons this morning. Within minutes, the phone at cubicle #6 rang.

A lump formed in Sahara’s throat the second Amitu picked up. Don’t cry, she told herself, afraid the tears would come when she opened her mouth. Luckily, she didn’t have to do much talking. Her father had been right. Amitu was wideawake. And she had a gazillion questions that only required short answers: “How are you liking Egypt?” “What do you think of your cousins?” “Are you sleeping okay?” “Sittu’s making sure you’re eating, right?” “Are you ready for the wedding?” “Any word on what the bride’s dress looks like?” and on and on.

After Amitu was finally done with her line of inquiry, she hesitated, then asked, “Are you sure you’re all right, Susu?” She could always tell when Sahara was upset, sometimes even before she knew it herself.

Sahara wanted to shout, No, I’m not all right! Mom’s necklace is gone, Khalu Omar’s marrying an evil witch, and there’s nothing I can do about any of it! But instead, she blurted, “Yeah. All good here. You were right—Cairo’s awesome. I’d better go before time runs out. See you soon.”

“Sahara,” Amitu cried. The line went dead.

She had meant to tell her aunt everything, but after hearing the tinge of concern in her voice, the last thing Sahara wanted was to make her worry more.

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