Hashim hears that his engagement deal to a girl he hasn’t seen yet is going to be signed the following day. Alex avoids bumping into Maryam’s dad as he visits her.
Please go to henrikwilenius.com for more info.
Hashim hears that his engagement deal to a girl he hasn’t seen yet is going to be signed the following day. Alex avoids bumping into Maryam’s dad as he visits her.
Please go to henrikwilenius.com for more info.
While the words ricocheted in the Grand Dome, hashim kept his head low and set a silent prayer asking for mercy, like he had done thousands of times since realizing he was gay.
Speaker 2:Hello, my name is Henrik Milenius and I am the author of the Rise Up Trilogy a young adult coming of age story about Hashim, Alex and Mariam on the threshold of adulthood. This weekly serialized audiobook podcast is narrated by Scott Summers.
Speaker 1:Before he could further wallow in his predicament, the doors cracked open and he gasped. There it was the devil himself in a tight tank top with the black skin of his upper torso glistening. Hashim couldn't pry his eyes off Noelle, who sauntered right toward him. He sensed Noelle's musky odor in his nose and inhaled it. He loved the semi-sweet smell of Noelle's sweat, but was wary of his own. Noelle met his gaze and raised the hand in salute. Hashim realized he had been caught red-handed and yanked his chin down. However, that only made him feel even more awkward. Instead, he straightened his neck and responded with a smile that froze on his face. His throat closing up, hashim realized that Noelle was fighting hard to keep a straight face. Once inside the elevator, noelle turned around and Hashim could hear a low chuckle as Noelle rammed the button for the 10th floor.
Speaker 1:After Noelle disappeared behind the closing doors, hashim picked up the pieces of his pride from the floor and marched to the entrance his cheeks burning. His father's sleek Mercedes was already waiting by the ramp to the garage. As he plotted across the courtyard, he felt God staring down at him. He was sure that God saw his lust and he felt shame. If only Allah would bring on the rain, strike him down with lightning and then raise him from the dead as a cleansed heterosexual man. As if he already didn't have enough on his plate. The merciless son was targeting any imperfection that came its way. He really didn't want to get another son blemish on his face. He really should have gone with his parents through the garage in the first place, but he hadn't been ready when they were ready to leave. He had still wanted to put on some sunscreen before exposing himself to the blistering.
Speaker 1:The new mosque stood next to an ultramodern shopping mall on the outskirts of the city, its two spires reaching for the sky. Ten years earlier, haji Ali, with a group of concerned Muslim businessmen, had appealed to a wealthy golf fund on the grounds that their children were in danger of being lost to an un-Islamic society. They had been able to cut a good land deal with the city council, as the fund promised to finance a multi-story shopping mall next to the site of the mosque. The super wealthy donors even offered to cover a large chunk of the operational costs of the mosque, including the salary of the Imam. Of course, that meant that the old one must go, and they replaced him with one of their own.
Speaker 1:Hashim's father waited patiently in line as cars dropped their passengers in front of the mosque's ornamental cream-colored main entrance. Once the car stopped, hashim jumped off the back seat and opened the door for his mother. Before she got out, she made sure her head scarf was securely in place. Then she grabbed Hashim's hand and rolled to a stand, scanning the crowd for familiar faces, a middle-aged matron approached the car and offered her greetings. Wa-alaikum salam. His mother responded in the traditional respectful way. Your son is so handsome, the matron said in a sugary voice. Mom smiled like a thousand sons. All praise be to Allah.
Speaker 1:Staring down at his feet, hashim was still mulling over the fiasco in the lobby when his mother poked him hard in the ribs. He looked up in metterglair. His instincts produced a fake smile and a few grateful words to go with it. You're going to make some girl very happy, the matron said and shared a knowing look with Hashim's mother. As the woman disappeared in the crowd, hashim's strained smile turned into a full-blown grimace, which his mother chose to ignore. Like an experienced bymaster, she searched for her next target, and there it was.
Speaker 1:Getting out of his luxury SUV, the uncontested head of the local Muslim community, mumbled and bearded. Haji Ali commanded respect wherever he went. He was the man who got the oil money flowing to the city and for sure a nice wad in his own pocket. Mom rushed to his side and waited patiently until he deemed to acknowledge her presence and offered his greetings. Without looking him in the eye, she replied in the traditional way, under respectful pause. She added I'm looking forward to the sermon.
Speaker 1:Haji Ali cleared his throat. Yes, me too, if I may say so. I've taken the liberty of giving our redeemed Imam a topic that needs to be addressed. He shifted his attention to Hashim. Your parents have raised you well. Congratulations on your scholarship. In these troubled times, we need young people like you with high moral standards and a strong faith in our tradition. Thank you, haji Ali. That was all that was expected of him. Never offer your opinion, never open your mouth unless Haji Ali asks you first. And even if he does keep it short and simple, he's not really interested. Haji Ali gave a tight-lipped smile. I'm sure I I mean the board made the right choice.
Speaker 1:Imam let the slip pass. He had known all along who made the decision. What was involved in the deal he didn't know, but he was sure he would soon find out. Anyway, he felt sweat tingling down his spine and simply wanted to get inside as fast as possible. All praise be to Allah, mother said. Haji Ali gazed up as if it really were God, not him, who deserved this praise. Then he let his ample chin drop and cleared his throat. My niece is eager to meet you, young man.
Speaker 1:Keeping his head down, hashim shifted his weight. Here came the payback part of the bargain his mother had struck with Haji Ali. His father probably knew nothing about it. He let his wife run the family like her own fiefdom, as Hashim's paternal grandmother had done in her time. Hashim didn't know if it was the scorching sun, the zesty whiff of perfume hanging in the air, or if it was the idea of marrying Haji Ali's niece, whom he had never met. But he felt like he was about to suffocate right there, and then he was trapped. He saw no way out without a big scandal that would shame him and his family for generations. Thus he took a deep breath and said yes, haji Ali, I would like to meet her too. Mother put on her best honeypot smile and asked how about coming to our place tomorrow afternoon? Good, tomorrow it is.
Speaker 1:Haji Ali gathered his flowing robe and moved on. The crowd parted like the Red Sea as he made his way through it toward the main entrance reserved only for men 4. Alex slowed down and swerved to the right. A red Chevy passed him only a few inches away. He turned left into an upmarket residential area. Even after the housing slump, these McMansions still cost megabucks. He felt sad for these people who had to build strong walls to separate them from the riff raft. He preferred his own neighborhood with its cracking walls and graffiti, covered underpasses or warring spouses going at it in the courtyard or in the long hallways, not caring who might see or hear. There was little pretension. People were what they were, with their bare imperfections, and this was something he wanted to write about in his stories.
Speaker 1:He stepped on the brake as he saw Miriam's father coming out of the house and walking toward his big black Cadillac on the driveway. He hid behind the elm tree and waited until the car had disappeared around the curve. He locked his bike, took off his shoes and walked around the house to the backside where Miriam had her own entrance. The freshly mown lawn felt like silk under his bare feet. He loved the smell of fresh cut grass, although Nico said it was a result of injured plants trying to cope with the damage by releasing some kind of organic compounds. Whatever Around where he lived with his dad, you couldn't catch this scent. It reminded him of another life. A long time ago they would visit his mother's best friend out in the country. For a tenement family, a smell other than of sewage, trash or exhaust fumes was a luxury.
Speaker 1:After buzzing him in, miriam went back to watching a video. Alex looked over her shoulder and saw on the screen an enormous dark hall where pigs lay cramped in metal crates on an excrement-covered floor. He flinched and realized that those wretched creatures never got to feel green grass under their deformed trotters. The screaming mass of animal flesh was like a scene from some horror movie or Dante's Inferno, and it twisted his guts inside out. He wanted to turn his head away but couldn't. Did you know that pigs can identify more than twenty different oinks, grunts and squeals? Miriam said the PETA video showed a mother pig gnawing the bar of her cage, her eyes ready to pop out of their sockets. A bunch of hungry baby piglets jumped all over each other trying to suck their mother's teats. A soul often sings to her piglets and they learn to run to her mother's voice.
Speaker 1:Can you believe that Alex screwed up his face? Ugh, nico sent you the link. Why do these zealots have to rub it in your face? He already had enough on his plate. How about some good old-fashioned debate and not this animal rights porn? Yes, but don't you think it's important that? There's only one thing that kind of makes me wonder, you being Muslim and all Like, said in a controlled tone, he noticed how Miriam had replaced her MacBook with the latest model. If Piggareese had glass walls, I'm sure nobody would eat pork anymore.
Speaker 1:Alex drew in slow, steady breaths. Do you really care what happens to them? His blood was boiling. He was fed up with this holier-than-thou attitude. Of course I-doesn't your religion define pigs as lazy, greedy and dirty.
Speaker 1:Miriam collapsed into her chair. You know I don't think that way. Ugh, I'm sorry. It's just that Alex shuffled his feet. She turned off her laptop screen. What's going on?
Speaker 1:Alex opened and closed his mouth, crumpling onto a couch. He couldn't think of anything to say. The anger he had felt moments ago was gone. Miriam got up from her chair and sat down next to him. Is it your dad Catching the faint scent of Jasmine which always seemed to follow her. Alex thought for a while before answering Ugh, I don't think so. He's doing better now. He grabbed a pillow and hugged it against his belly. I'm glad to hear that. Miriam said, as she studied his face How's your writing? Alex's fingers rubbed the smooth silken pillow case. I only wish I could write something real, something that really matters. What are you writing now? With a self-deprecating laugh, alex said I've got this story about a guy who finds out his dad runs a meth lab. I mean, there's a lot of conflict there because the guy is uber religious and…. Is that the story that really speaks to your heart? Miriam asked. Alex broke eye contact, pressing his lips together. Then he just shook his head.
Speaker 2:Thank you for listening to the Rise Up Trilogy podcast. For more information, go to my website henrikvillenewscom.