The Unstruck Sound

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

For a child who had lived her whole life at the school, never had any money or relatives to buy her things, Saj had amassed an impressive collection of things that reflected her unique style and taste. Saj had learned that she could find treasures on trash days in the French Quarter.

Her standard issue twin bed had long ago been replaced by a four-poster princess bed that had taken her and Mr. Williams, cursing the whole way, several trip to get back to the dorm and put together. The canopy was comprised of mosquito netting, Christmas lights, old glass Mardi Gras beads, and scarves that Hasneem had brought back from the Middle East. She also had an antique nightstand, a hardwood bookcase stuffed with books, and a dresser with carved handles and a marble top.

On the walls were posters that Ms. Birney had given her for helping with the school's annual Scholastic Book Fair. She liked kitten posters best and had several, including one that showed a cat dangling by her claws from a tree branch that said "Hang in there!" and one of kittens in a basket from the most recent fair that said "Keep Calm and Cuddle On." Over Hasneem's bed was a poster of the legendary Egyptian singer Oum Kalthoum and the girl activist Malala. Saj had taken over most of Hasneem's wall space and floor space, but Hasneem didn't mind. She had her own room in Dearborn, and she knew that this room was all the home Saj had ever known. Saj and Hasneem had been roommates since seventh grade.

"What's going on? I dreamed people were hollering and fussing at each other," Hasneem asked sleepily when Saj returned to the room.

"I thought you spent the night with your parents in their hotel."

"No, they had got us a room with one queen bed. I can't sleep in a bed with my two sisters. We're not exactly little girls anymore. I got in late, and you weren't here. Where did you go when you left Borsodi's?"

"You were at Borsodi's?" Saj asked.

"Yes. You didn't see me because you spent the whole time hanging all over Jem Montegut. But when we left at ten you weren't there. I assumed he walked you home, but you weren't here when I got in. You better watch out. Hanging out with Jem is going to get you in trouble."

"I've known him like forever," Saj said. "Why are you always hating on Jem and Lindsey?"

"I'm not hating! But he's nineteen and you're only fifteen. I know you, Saj. Now that Mr. Montegut is gone, you're going to look for someone to take his place."

"No one could ever take Mr. Montegut's place!" Saj cried. "Jem is kinda like his grandfather, though."

"Saj, you're going to wind up like my cousin Nidra! I know I told you that story a million times."

"Who's Nidra? I must not have been listening the first million times."

Hasneem threw a pillow embroidered with Quranic verses at her friend's head. Saj caught the pillow and played with the fringe.

"My cousin Nidra was going through all the things. She didn't want to wear hijab anymore. She didn't want to fast for Ramadan. Back in Dearborn, everybody is Muslim, so, you know, you just go along with everybody else, but here the kids don't even have their parents to enforce the rules. Mr. Montegut was always cool about it. You know how he was. How he always had the exact right thing to say to make you feel better? But Nidra was boy-crazy, and nobody, not even Mr. Montegut, knew what was really going on."

"She started talking to Michael Aimee. They were tickling in the lunchroom, giving each other neck rubs in homeroom. You know Muslim girls aren't even supposed to shake hands with a dude, right? One day she was caught kissing Michael under the stairs. Big scandal. Mr. Montegut couldn't get involved because it was his grandson, so he let Mrs. Schneckenberger handle it. Nidra's parents lost it. They flew down from Dearborn to take her out of school. Nidra said she wouldn't leave, that she was in love with Michael. Michael Aimee told Mrs. Schneckenberger that he didn't even like Nidra, that she had chased after him and practically raped him. He totally dumped her, and all she could do was cry and go back to Dearborn."

"So what does this have to do with me and Jem?"

"Those white dudes are all alike, Saj. They will pretend to like us to see if they can get what they want. The Muslim girls are like a challenge to them. They think we're exotic. But in end they will treat us the way Michael treated Nidra. Like a plaything."

"Jem isn't like that!"

"Dude, Jem and Michael are first cousins. Which brings me to my next point—"

"Right. They're first cousins. But notice that Jem's last name is Montegut, and Michael's last name is Aimee. And the Aimee's and the Montegut's are totally different. Look at Jane Aimee."

"Right. That's what I'm trying to tell you. My parents said Jane Aimee is going to be the next headmaster."

"What?" Then Saj remembered Jane had called herself acting headmaster.

"The Aimees ran the school for like 150 years. The headmaster before Mr. Montegut was Robert Aimee, and that's Jane's grandfather on her father's side. When he got sick, none of his sons were old enough to take over. Mr. Montegut totally changed the school, and rumor has it that they have always wanted to get it back and make it more like the way it used to be."

"Like what?"

"A school for rich kids. A school for rich, white people who have French last names and whose daddies are the kings of Mardi Gras parades. You know the pictures in the hallway outside the office of every graduating class going back like one hundred years? You never noticed how everyone in the pictures are all white dudes until like 1940 when they let in women? Then in like 1980 all the sudden—bam! There's black and brown faces."

"Actually, Jem and I were just talking about that. And about how brave Mr. Montegut was to let in all different kinds of people. Why can't Jem be the next headmaster? He'd be so good at it."

"He's got like three years of college before he graduates, duh. Why do you think Jane Aimee left New York? Because she wants to run the school. Old Mrs. Schneckenberger isn't going to stand up to her. My parents say if Jane Aimee is the new headmaster, I'm not coming back next year."

Saj was sitting on her bed. She was staring at Hasneem and clutching her hair with her hands.

"You know the first thing I said was what about Saj? They said you can come with me. It's great in Dearborn. You gotta see my parents' house. You'd have your own room, your own bathroom. We'd go to a big school, with dances I could actually go to, and a senior trip. You'd have to convert to Islam, but you can do that, right?"

"How come your parents won't let you stay if Jane's the headmaster?"

"Everybody hates her because she thinks she's so great! My parents aren't going to let me go here with a headmaster who to them is just a young girl. She's not even Muslim!"

"But Mr. Montegut wasn't Muslim, either, was he? I mean, what was he? There was a priest at his funeral, but this kid who used to go here told me he was a Buddhist. Did you see the Asian monks at the funeral? And the guys from Turkey? Who are they?"

Hasneem took a deep breath. She exhaled slowly.

"No, Mr. Montegut was not technically a Muslim. But his second wife is Egyptian. He'd spent a great deal of time in Egypt and all over the world. He was wise and old. My parents trusted him in every way. He did a lot for me and for my family." Hasneem paused. "You never took his World Religions class. That class was my jam. It made me understand so much."

"Like?" Saj didn't know that Mr. Montegut taught had a class called World Religions. She wondered why she hadn't been in that class, too.

"You know how there's all these different religions at Bon Coeur? Students would always want to know which one he believed in, which one got it right. So Mr. Montegut said how you know it's like there are hundreds of languages, a hundred different words for love or book. It's not right or wrong. It's just how you say it. But every culture has laughter. Every human being, all over the world, laughs." Hasneem paused.

"The way we worship is God is like a language, there's a million different ways to do the same thing. But God? God is the laughter."