Bin Laden's Woman by Gustavo Homsi

 
     
Tupã
    And so, they did. George Naffah,
his wife Samira, their daughter Sammy and Eli, their little boy, have gone
to Brazil. More precisely to Tupã , countryside of Sao Paulo, where Zobaida's cousin was
living.
    Soon they realized that things weren’t
doing so well with their relatives in Brazil. The cousin’s husband
was dead and the widow was facing hot times to keep the nice house
at the fancy neighborhood. Well, money was short, but they haven’t
lost their style and prestige.
    Anyway, the widow received the arriving
family at home with care and endorsed the lease for their new
house.
    After the trip, Naffahs’ possessions got
even more limited. They saw many houses and finally decided to rent
a street corner building facing a church. It wasn’t the finest
place in town, but it was good.
    There was a commercial room in the front;
just behind it, a house with backyard, trees, chickens, anyway,
everything else for the family. It belonged to another Arab man who
had returned to his homeland. It was really quite a
find.
    The language, of course, was a problem;
everyone was struggling to learn it. The widow sent Carolina to
live with them. She was Brazilian, one of her goddaughters, her
parents died some years before. She got to the cousin’s house when
the situation was better; now, it was difficult to manage another
mouth to feed
    Anyway, Carolina was a blessing, diligent,
intelligent, always ready to help, and at ease with Arabic and
Portuguese. She was the same age as Sammy, they became friends
immediately. Finally, Carolina felt at home again.
     
    In the beginning, everything was
difficult. Samira used to control every single penny. Finally
things started getting better.
     
    The commerce received the pompous name of "The
Eastern Star." They didn’t know exactly what they were going to
sell, so they got a little of everything.
    Step by step , they had to learn the
neighborhood’s needs. They understood that credit was the crucial
point. It was unbelievable. The customers were nice people, but
they were used to live on the edge. The Naffahs were surprised. How
those people could spend all their money just after the pay day?
How could then live that way? Depending on credit to survive until
the next payment. Next month, the same again, get the money, spend
it all and get back to credit.
    Samira, stuffing the kibbes , used to think: - I have faith, I trust in the good Lord,
but this people put their lives completely in His hands!
     
    Samira was good at everything she did. In
the kitchen she was unbeatable. Her delicacies were a huge success.
It is unbelievable how a woman raised with all the comfort could
work so well and knew so many things. Everybody worked, George used
to spend hours and hours in the store. The girls used to help in
the kitchen, Sammy enjoyed feeding the chickens.
    Good o bserver, Samira noticed that she
should reduce the Zathar, the traditional Arab spice, those people
were not used to it. She also learned some Brazilian recipes, and
soon the coxinha of the "Eastern Star" was the best in town. A delicious
snack, pastry filled with chicken, bread crumbed and finally deep
fried.
     
    She w as delighted with the abundance,
especially of beef. It was hard to understand how women could pay
for takeout if the ingredients were so cheap. Well… She didn’t ask
any questions, she had a family to support, children to feed. Bit
by bit she raised the prices.
     
    The girls went to school together. Carol
helped Sammy with the language. Sammy repaid with math, she had a
natural talent with numbers, a gift.
    Both g irls, and Eli, the little boy, used
to study in the store. The afternoons were quite slowly there.
George - waiting for customers - spent hours teaching the
complicated Arabic alphabet to his children.
    He t old them his people’s stories, their
legends. He was a well-educated man. Weak in business, but
educated. He told them how important their family was, its titles,
its wealth. He