The Turtle of Oman Read Online Free

himself.
    Sulima was Aref’s best friend of the girls his own age. She liked digging and rocks too. She told Aref she was going to be an architect or the president of a construction company someday. Their fathers taught in the same biology department at the university, but her father specialized in marine biology. She had lived with her parents in the United States for two years before she and Aref ever went to first grade. He had to give her a stone.
    She liked the rectangular chunk of pure white limestone that looked like snow.
    He pulled it out of his drawer, pausing only a second, and carried it downstairs. He held it out to her. “For you! I’ll see enough snow.”
    She looked amazed. “Thank you, Aref!” she said, clutching it tightly in both hands. “Say hi to the United States for me.”
    Aref frowned.
    â€œRemember what I told you?” Sulima asked. “The zoos and roller coasters and trains and skating rinks are really fun. The ice cream stores have too many flavors, even more than here. You’re lucky!”
    Oman had no trains. But Aref didn’t feel lucky. “I hope so,” he said. “I really like this pencil box, thank you.”
    Mostly he liked that it said OMAN on it.
    â€œWrite to me,” said Sulima. “Bye!”
    She ran back to the car and hopped in, waving. Her father, who had already said good-bye to Aref’s parents more than once, waved from the driver’s seat, calling out, “ Maasalameh! ”
    Aref’s mother put a hand on his shoulder. “You have so many nice friends,” she said.
    She paused before they stepped back inside. “We still need to say good-bye to the Al-Jundi family,” she said, looking down the street at their neighbor’s plum-colored house.
    Saying good-bye was exhausting.

The Most Important Word in the World

    A ref ran upstairs to put his new T-shirt and pencil box into his empty gigantic shiny green suitcase that had been sitting for weeks beside his bed. Its mouth was open. It had three zippered pockets on the outside and four pouches on the inside. The lining of the suitcase was printed with blue crown-shaped emblems, like a scarf or a tablecloth.
    A cat would definitely fit inside it. Even two small children would fit inside it. He had picked it out himself at the suitcase store with his parents.
    Then he fell onto his bed. “I will always like this bed best!” he yelled. He liked the tall wooden bookshelves in his bedroom, the giant boxes of toys from when he was little pushed into the closet, his room’s blue ceiling and the lamp over his bed, so he could reach up and click it on while lying on his pillows. He liked the map of the world taped to the wall. His father had poked a pin with a red head into the state of MICHIGAN.
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    My New Home
    1. Michigan has more lakes and ponds than any other state. It has 64,980 inland lakes and ponds. Maybe I will fall into one.
    2. Ann Arbor’s nickname is Tree Town.
    3. Mackinac Island, Michigan, has no cars on it. You have to take a horse and buggy, or walk. This seems like Oman in the old days. Also it is strange since Michigan is famous for car factories.
    4. The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island features the world’s longest porch .
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    Aref’s twin cousins, Hani and Shadi, two years younger than he was, would be moving into his bedroom while he was gone. His cousins and aunt and uncle, who’d had a job transfer, were coming from Dubai, where the skyscrapers poked the clouds, to live in Muscat, right after Aref and his mom left. It was perfect timing. Everybody could share. It was disgusting and upsetting, actually.
    Hani and Shadi would pull two chairs up to Aref’s worktable instead of just one, while Aref was far away, in a room he’d never yet seen. They would sleep in his double bed. They would mess everything up. They would look out the window and hear the call to prayer floating across the valley