Well then I guess we should tell her and get it over with Ava took a deep breath and opened Granny’s front door When they dropped their backpacks and sweat shirts in the entryway Granny Buena appeared from the kitchen She looked like a queen would look Ava thought if queens wore purple aprons Maybe her air of elegance came from her curly silver hair proud posture and gleaming jewelry Or maybe it came from something else something deep inside Granny welcomed Ava and Nadeem with a delighted smile that faltered when she caught the expressions on their faces La la la Her lilting accent was kind of Spanish kind of not What’s wrong ninyos miyos Ava couldn’t trust herself to speak Instead she made eye contact with Granny and passed an invis ible mic to Nadeem We’re okay Nadeem said But yeah something happened today at school He gulped and Ava realized she wasn’t the only one who felt like crying Oh my dears Granny opened her arms wide Ava flung herself into that perfumey soft hug which would have been a whole lot softer if Granny 2
hadn’t been wearing her usual bunch of big bumpy necklaces Granny’s hand came up to pat her hair and the tight knot in Ava’s chest began to loosen Come now children Tell your nona Buena everything Granny led them into the living room and settled onto the sofa laying aside her purple apron and tucking in the ends of her flowing dress She patted the cushions beside her invitingly and the kids sat close to her on either side As my own grandmothers used to say mal de muchos es konsuelo she said in a reassuring tone Sharing your troubles is a comfort in itself Ava and Nadeem were used to adults sharing quirky bits of wisdom like this Nadeem’s Muslim mom Noora had a traditional saying for every occasion occasion like A person’s tongue can give you the taste of his heart which made Ava wonder queasily what a heart is supposed to taste like or If you’re a friend of the captain you can wipe your hands on the sail which was just one big unanswered Why As for Granny Buena it seemed like she couldn’t go more than five minutes without quoting an old Sephardic Jewish proverb in Ladino the language of her childhood childhood Ladino was a cool brew of Spanish Hebrew and Arabic with a cinnamon sprinkle of Turkish 3
Ava said If we tell you what happened do you promise not to tell Mom I think it will upset her The gentle lines of Granny’s face grew serious Your mother is my daughter kerida Nadeem’s father rest him in peace was my son and his wife is now like a daughter to me Your parents trust me to care for you after school while they’re at work Keeping something important from them would be a betrayal It is not our way That was another thing Granny Buena said a lot It is not our way And sometimes when Granny did things that seemed funny to Ava like kissing leftover bread before tossing it into the compost bin she would say It is our way as a kind of non-explanation Okay then Ava gave in with a sigh I’ll tell you I uh got into a fight with someone Granny arched an auburn-penciled eyebrow A granddaughter of mine would never do such a thing unless she had a good reason So Tell me what it was Nadeem chimed in There’s this girl in our class Fern She has a problem with me being Muslim And with me being Jewish Ava added 4
I don’t know what her deal is said Nadeem We’ve never done anything to hurt her But all of a sudden she’s hassling us and she won’t let up How exactly does Fern hassle you ninyos Ava didn’t want to answer but she did Even though it made her feel kind of sick She calls us names I I refuse to say them out loud Those words didn’t belong in her grandmother’s living room They would pollute the air Nadeem took a deep breath I’ll tell her He whispered in Granny’s ear Granny’s green eyes sparked with anger Today after school Ava explained Fern followed followed us part of the way home She was shouting at us as usual and I guess I finally snapped I mean she’s been on our case for weeks So I got right in her face and yelled back I was this close to shoving shoving her That’s when Nadeem caught my wrist and stopped me She held out her right hand An empty thread hung from her sleeve where a white button had once been Nadeem grimaced Sorry I didn’t mean to tear off your button He turned to Granny I talked Ava into leaving before we all got into a real fight But I’m still wondering whether we should’ve stayed 5
