The Paper House by Lois Peterson Read Free Book Online

her T-shirt along with the note of when Cucu should take them. The doctor said her grandmother would need them for a long time. Every day at the right time.
    Safiyah would have to ask someone to read the note. Perhaps, if Pendo came by…
    She helped her grandmother slip on her shoes, taking care not to hurt her bunions, then handed Cucu her stick.
    Her grandmother’s hand shook as she leaned against Safiyah’s shoulder while they made their way slowly through the ward. Some patients and their families called out goodbye while others waved weakly from their beds.
    In the doorway, Cucu stood blinking in the bright sunlight.
    The few coins a nurse had given them for the bus were sweaty in Safiyah’s hand, and the bus stop was a long way away. Safiyah studied the ground to make sure there was nothing to trip over as she led her grandmother into the street.
    â€œWere you not going to wait for me?” asked Rasul. How often he seemed to appear out of thin air! “Let me guess.” He grinned. “I bet the little pest did not tell you.”
    â€œLittle pest?” asked Cucu.
    â€œChidi, of course. He was supposed to tell you that I would be here after I had checked it out with my boss.”
    â€œYour boss?” asked Cucu. “You have a job?”
    â€œI am going to learn to fix cars.”
    â€œCars! Perhaps if I had stayed longer, you could have driven us home!” said Cucu with a laugh. Safiyah expected her grandmother to start coughing. But Cucu just said, “Cars!” again, and slipped her arm through Rasul’s. She handed Safiyah her stick and held on to her elbow on the other side.
    It took a long time to reach the bus stop. As they waited in the noise and fumes of the street, three boys Rasul’s age whispered to each other and crossed to the other side. An old man waiting for the bus muttered something under his breath and spat on the ground.
    Rasul ignored them all.
    Safiyah thought of all the questions she wanted to ask but decided to keep to herself. He might be Blade to other people and to boys in his gang, but he was a good friend to her and her grandmother. It was all about survival, his mother said. And she and Cucu needed friends if they were to survive in Kibera.
    At last the bus came, billowing smoke and grinding its gears. Rasul settled Cucu into a seat between a woman nursing a baby and an old man with a basket on his lap. A chicken flapped and squawked inside.
    Safiyah stood in the aisle beside Rasul, jostled by the noisy crush of people. Some stared at Rasul and Safiyah. Others avoided looking at them at all.
    Safiyah felt shy, thinking about what Rasul’s mother had told her about Arafa. Was that the reason Rasul was so kind to her? Did she remind him of his little sister?
    As they lurched along the dusty road, Safiyah thought of the last time she had been on a bus, on the long journey to the city. Just like last time, she was so hemmed in by sweaty bodies and bulging bags and bundles she could hardly see out the windows.
    At last the bus stopped and Rasul led them along the crowded aisle. He got down first, then turned and wrapped his arms around Cucu. She laughed as he swung her to the ground. Safiyah watched them from the top of the steps.
    â€œBetter come quick,” said Rasul.
    Safiyah leaped down just as the bus started moving again.
    While Cucu leaned on her stick and watched the bus rattle away, Safiyah looked around her. The sign over Mr. Zuma’s shop swung in the hot breeze. A brown dog slept in the sun. A jar of flowers stood outside a house, and a broken chair covered with drying clothes leaned against a wall. A raggedy line of neighbors waited at the water vendor’s stand.
    This was home now, thought Safiyah. Even if it would never feel the same as her village.
    Safiyah and Rasul walked beside Cucu as they made their way home. At their doorway, Cucu smiled at the colorful mural. “How lovely!” she said.
    Rasul