The Paper House by Lois Peterson Read Free Book Online Page B

want to play?” A little boy with a very dirty face held a tangle of string out to her.
    â€œNo!”
    â€œWhy are you crying?” the boy asked. “Are you hurt?” Now his friend was staring at her too.
    â€œMind your own business.” Safiyah stood up and wiggled her sore hand back and forth. If it was broken, she might have to go back to the clinic.
    She looked back toward her own street. For a moment she wondered if Rasul might come after her. But what would the neighbors think, if they saw a gang leader chasing a little girl?
    She looked at the busy streets and alleys ahead of her. Kibera stretched out in all directions, more streets than she would ever know, crowded with more people than she could count.
    Pendo and her schoolmates turned the corner, coming her way. Safiyah watched as Pendo strutted along with her nose in the air.
    Without planning to, Safiyah reached toward her friend. “Pendo?”
    Pendo brushed her hand away. “Do I know you?” Her voice was thin and mean.
    â€œPlease…wait…” Safiyah stammered.
    Pendo turned her back on Safiyah. She linked arms with another girl and walked away without looking back.
    Safiyah stood alone in the middle of the alley with her hands hanging at her side.
    Suddenly, her hand was grabbed from behind. “You’re home!” Chidi hopped up and down and hung on to her arm. “Is your Cucu dead now? Are you all alone in the world, like me?” He grinned at her, as if he didn’t mind one bit.
    She shook her sore hand free. “She’s not dead! Anyway, you’re not alone. You have Rasul, and your aunt and uncle.”
    Chidi grinned. “Let’s go see your cucu. I bet she missed me.”
    â€œYou were supposed to tell us that Rasul was coming to meet us at the clinic.”
    â€œI had to go to school,” said Chidi. He giggled.
    The little pest reminded Safiyah of the monkeys that hung from the trees in her village. A nuisance, but amusing. She couldn’t help smiling. “Don’t you know how lucky you are? I wish I could go to school.”
    â€œLucky?” Chidi’s grubby fingers circled her arm as he pulled her along the alley. “School is boring. Two times two is four. Two times three is six. Two times four is nine,” he chanted. “It’s all tables and reading.”
    Reading! Even Chidi could read! thought Safiyah.
    â€œCome on,” he called, trotting ahead.
    At the house, Chidi darted along the wall. “What’s that?” He pointed at the bare slash where Safiyah had torn down Pendo’s pictures.
    â€œYou ask too many questions.” She gave him a little push. “You wanted to see Cucu. So go and say hello to Cucu. But don’t wake her if she is sleeping.”
    Safiyah studied a few pictures that had survived the fire, and others from her collection that Pendo had added. Then in one corner she spotted the picture of the glinting blue swimming pool. The one Pendo had snuck into her pocket.
    Pendo had given up her favorite picture! And in return Safiyah had been mean and ungrateful. She leaned forward to flatten a loose piece of paper. Friendship was hard, she thought. And words were easy. Sometimes they made it too easy to hurt a good friend.
    But finding the right words to make up was going to be hard.
    After a supper of Mrs. Pakua’s groundnut stew, Safiyah and Cucu played mancala. Safiyah gave Cucu some water to wash down her pills, then wrapped the rest back in their paper and tucked them in the tin under her bed.
    She rolled her bracelet off her wrist and put it safely inside too.
    â€œThe clinic mattress was better,” said Cucu, as she settled down for the night. “But it is nice to be home.” Safiyah was sweeping the rug when Cucu added, “Rasul left something under the bed for you.”
    A cardboard box was pushed among the clutter of pots and dishes. Inside Safiayah found a stack of brightly