Love from a to Z

ZAYNEB
SATURDAY, MARCH 23
MARVEL:
THE LONG ARC OF THINGS
A
DAM, HIS DAD, AND
H
ANNA
came to the airport to see me and Mom off.
I hadn’t wanted Adam to come, because then Mom would see how much
we meant to each other.
And she wasn’t ready to see that.
Last night, when we were returning from dinner and his house, Mom had
told Auntie Nandy that she thought Adam was a “very mature and
responsible young man with a peaceful, kind aura” but that he was still
trying to figure out things and that we were young, and so what was there to
come but going our own, separate ways.
I hadn’t said anything, because I didn’t want to show my hand.
To reveal the truth: that I wanted to get to know one person more than I’d
ever wanted to get to know any other person in the entire world.
That I carried something in me, a little piece wedged inside my heart, that
knew for certain he felt the same way about me.
That we were connected beyond what Mom was saying in the front seat
beside Auntie Nandy.
I knew for certain that the long arc of things included me and him, Adam
and Zayneb.
The long arc went from A to Z, across continents and oceans, across
time, and I didn’t need to protest or speak up or get angry at Mom for
discounting Adam, for discounting us.
I believed there was more out there, more than this small world, so I
stayed quiet and confident in the back of the car and just whispered a prayer
out the window into the night.

---

• • •
But he came to the airport, and he had something in his hand that he held
out to me as we stood to the side of Mom and Auntie Nandy saying their
good-byes.
He unfurled his fingers, and there was a small carved goose with . . . was
that enameled orange eyes?
It was beautiful.
He turned his palm over carefully, and the bird dropped into my hand,
just as my tear did too. “I’d begun making it for you, but then Hanna saw it
and loved it, and I gave it to her. But she wanted you to have it. Because it
was meant for you in the first place. It’s a Canada goose.”
“Oh my God, it’s unbelievable. And the orange eyes.”
“I did that part last night after you left.”
“You remembered. That I liked enameling. And the orange.” I closed my
fingers over his gift as I closed my eyes. “I won’t forget anything I know
about you, either, Adam.”
“Geese are protective of their communities. Just found that out.” He
paused. “Like you.”
“And I won’t stop being protective.”
He responded with “assalamu alaikum.” When I opened my eyes to say
salaam back, he’d stepped back as Auntie Nandy came to say good-bye to
me.
I got more teary-eyed as I thought of not seeing her again, but she
whispered something into my scarfed ear that made me smile. “I’m coming
to visit this summer. And Adam is too—his Dad told me, with Hanna, who
apparently loves you as well.”
When she stepped away, I looked at Hanna standing a bit apart with
Adam’s dad. She saw my glance and smiled and waved. I opened my arms.
She ran into them. When we broke away, I said, “Wait. I have something
for you.”
Right there, I lay my big suitcase down and opened it up. Luckily, it
wasn’t a mess inside, and I was able to find what I wanted to give her.
I held out the Blues, the Angry Bird that became three. She took it, her
eyes wide with happiness. “It’s from the game we played in the car!”
“Yeah, and look,” I said, taking it back to show her how it launched into
three birds. “Three times as powerful. Kind of like you, your dad, and

---

Adam.”
“And you, Zayneb.” She hugged me again.
“And me, always. You can be the big bird and Adam, your dad, and I are
your power boosters.” I smoothed her hair and tucked in the stray clumps.
“Keep in touch, Hanna Chen. I expect Ariel pictures every so often.”
She nodded and squeezed the Blues to her before hopping back to her
dad.
Mom spoke to Adam, who’d straightened from closing and righting my
suitcase. “Congratulations. Natasha just told me. What amazing news.”
I looked at Adam, then Mom, puzzled.
“Oh, you didn’t tell her?” Auntie Nandy asked him. “The friend of mine
who came over last night to see the room Adam made is actually the
director of art exhibits at Katara. He wants Adam to make an installation
there. It’s going to be a permanent exhibit, so it’s quite a big contract.
Congrats again, Adam, on your season in the sun.” She winked at him.
“Thanks, Ms. Raymond.” He smiled at her and then turned to me, his
eyes dancing. “Katara is doing a feature on ancient manuscripts from the
Muslim world. And the director wants my installation to focus on the same
manuscript I based the room on.”
“The Marvels of Creation and the Oddities of Existence?” I said, unable
to contain the joy bubbling in me.
“That’s the one,” Adam said, joining me in laughter.
It was Auntie Nandy’s and Mom’s turn to look puzzled, but between me
and Adam, all of it made sense.
The world made complete sense for once.
• • •
Dad wasn’t home yet, and Sadia and Mansoor were returning to Springdale
next weekend when Dad did, so Mom and I hung out together, talking and
watching things and talking some more.
It was so amazing, just to be home with her. To turn to her as we laughed
at something crazy on a show or lean my tired self into her open arms at the
end of a movie. It felt like the fortress had cracked in two, and my heart was
peeking out.
I also spent a lot of the weekend sleeping.
I wanted to be completely awake for school on Monday.

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