Safiah's Smile by Leora Friedman

Author:Leora Friedman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: september 11, love, friendship, 911, courage, war, high school, soldier, antidiscrimination
Publisher: Leora Friedman

– Chapter 6 –

“Safiah? What are you doing here?” she questioned. Suddenly, Malia realized she wasn’t lying on her springy mattress. Kate Lockman, her roommate, wasn’t tugging on her covers gently, reminding her that classes began in twenty minutes. And the shouts of fellow freshmen in the halls weren’t echoing through the thin, brittle walls of her dorm room.

“Why are you sitting beneath a tree, Malia?” Safiah looked worried. A shadow crossed her face. “You weren’t sitting here all night, were you?” She sounded skeptical. Why is she so worried? Malia thought.

And then she remembered.

She couldn’t tell her. She wouldn’t.

She couldn’t cry in front of Safiah. Safiah had already endured so much. Her anxieties would seem trivial.

“I like nature. Especially trees,” Malia asserted. “In fact, for one of my classes, I’m doing a report on trees... uh... maple trees, specifically.” She hoped Safiah wasn’t an earnest tree lover.

Safiah eyed the note lying in Malia’s fingers. Sam’s letter, she recognized. It was smudged with stains that resembled tears. Holes were beginning to form in those spots. The water was too much for the brittle paper to handle and it was shredding. Malia gathered the torn pieces and placed them in her pocket.

“What’s happened, Malia?” she whispered.

A golden headscarf, Malia admired. A light blue dress. Such beautiful colors, she marveled. Safiah always wore the most stunning of colors.

“Malia, why aren’t you speaking?” Safiah’s eyes were not simply bright with worry. They were gleaming with fear. “Something has happened, hasn’t it? It’s your brother.” She waited for a reply. None came. “Malia, you can tell me what happened. I can help.”

The morning bells chimed, signaling the start of classes. It was ten in the morning. Safiah did not flinch a muscle. A boy on a mountain bike, a backpack strapped across one arm, zoomed past them. A cluster of giggling girls strolled by, their hair tied back sophisticatedly, a black leather handbag harnessed to each of their shoulders. A middle-aged man jogged briskly with his dog through the park while whistling classic John Lennon tunes.

“They don’t know where he is. He’s gone, Safiah,” she looked at her friend. Friend, she thought. In spite of everything, somehow she had managed to make a friend.

Safiah exhaled heavily and contemplated. After several moments of silence, she spoke. “Malia, that doesn’t mean he’s not coming back.”

“Doesn’t it, though?”

Safiah looked to the sky. At the swirls of white and blue. “When I was a little girl, I got lost in the corn fields. Every afternoon, it was my obligation to harvest the vegetables. And I got lost within acres and acres of starch. For hours I tried desperately to find my way back. And eventually, I did.” But she looked uncertain. “And maybe... maybe you’re brother will....”

“No.” Malia lifted herself from the ground, swiping her backside. She looked at her hands. They were soiled with gunk and green smears. “No. This is not like that at all. I have no way of knowing whether he’s alive or... or....”

“You can’t think like that.

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