for as long as she can remember He left Syria and came to Canada years before she was born He studied at a university in a faraway city called Toronto then found a job and stayed But Khalou Dawood moved to Vancouver recently and now he’s finally visiting them in their new home The elevator opens on the garage level Salma spots Baba pulling the last bag out of the trunk of their car He hands it to Salma and she is surprised it’s not full of groceries like all the others The cloth bag has Salma’s favorite bookstore logo on it Wow Salma says Did you buy me new coloring books No Salma these books are for your mother and me Salma sneaks a look at the titles She can read them but isn’t sure what they mean 4
Have you ever met my khalou Baba Salma asks as they ride the elevator back to their floor I did once a long time ago way before you were born Baba says Salma has never had an uncle before At least not nearby Her friends tell her of the adventures their favorite uncles take them on like a day trip to the amusement park or a night drive to a kids theater show and the many candies and toys they offer Riya’s uncle even lets her play her favorite songs loud in his car when he drives them somewhere Now Salma will get to do all of this too And it will be even more fun because Khalou Dawood will be the best khalou in the whole wide world Why hasn’t he visited us before Salma asks Toronto might be far but it’s not as far as Syria 5
Ayman’s uncle even visited once from Prince Edward Island and that’s so far away the sun rises there four hours before it does in Vancouver You will have to ask your mama The elevator doors open and she follows her baba out Salma takes the books to her parents bedroom Then she sets the table while Mama organizes ingredients next to a big cooking pot preparing for the big meal Why hasn’t my khalou visited us before Mama Salma asks but Mama doesn’t answer right away Salma looks over and sees Mama standing still holding the lid of the pot Her eyes look faraway and her lips quiver Mama Salma says Mama snaps out of her trance She takes a deep 6
breath puts the lid down then sprinkles some spices on the meal But she still doesn’t answer Salma She is about to ask her question again when Mama finally looks her in the eyes When we were young Mama says your khalou and I used to play pranks on your grandparents all the time Oh so that’s where Salma gets her pranks from Baba jokes from the couch No My pranks are all original Salma teases No one is a better prankster than me Everyone laughs Salma smiles too proud of her joke But Mama still has not answered her question There is something her parents don’t want to talk about She knows it’s not polite to insist but curiosity is overwhelming her 7
