Page 41 of Sheltering You

It went straight to voice mail.

Derrick resisted the urge to bang his phone against the wall. At the beep, he said, “Call me back ASAP. It’s an emergency.”

He tried a few more times, only giving up when a knock sounded on the door. He peeked through the peephole, then accepted the boxes and two-liter bottle of soda from the pimply teenager and knocked on the door between the rooms. “Dinner!”

Rabie’s face was freshly scrubbed, a little red. His hair was wet and curly.

“Have a seat, buddy.” Derrick pulled out a chair for him at the table, but the kid didn’t move toward it.

Derrick hadn’t paid attention to the superhero pattern on his PJs before. “Which is your favorite Avenger?”

The boy shrugged.

“I’ve always been a Spider-Man fan myself.” He found plates in the small kitchen and slid a slice of the hamburger-and-cheese pie onto one. “I’d love to be able to swing from buildings like he does, wouldn’t you? And scale them? That’d be so cool.”

Rabie came a little closer, finally reaching the table. He sat in the chair Derrick had indicated, and Derrick set the plate in front of him.

“You like Sprite?” Derrick asked.

“Yes.”

“Me, too.” Derrick put ice in three glasses and poured soda. He set the drinks on the table. “Where’s Jasmine?”

From the other room, she called, “I’m coming. Don’t wait.”

Rabie reached for his pizza, but Derrick said, “Uh-uh. Even when a lady says that, she means wait.” He winked. “It’s impolite to start before everybody’s at the table.”

“But she’s just a woman.”

Derrick pressed his lips closed to keep his first response from slipping out. He smiled, then leaned in like he was sharing a secret. “Women are precious and deserve respect, just like men. You should remember that if you ever want to get married.”

“Ew.” His face twisted in horror, and Derrick barely stifled a chuckle.

“You might change your mind one of these days.”

They sat quietly for a few moments, and then Rabie said, “Ironman.”

Ah. His favorite Avenger. “Ironman is wicked cool. What do you like about him?”

“He is an ordinary man, only very smart. Basma tells me I’m smart. I want to be like Ironman.”

“You are smart, no question.”

The boy eyed his drink. “Do I have to wait for Yasamin to sip?”

“I think it’ll be okay.” He sipped his own to show solidarity, and Rabie swallowed a few gulps.

Finally, Jasmine came in. Her hair was wet, and she’d changed into one of her many shapeless dresses, this one as drab as all the others she wore. Even so, she was beautiful.

Derrick stood. “Pepperoni?”

“I can get it.”

But he was already in the kitchen, so she sat at the table, peering at his plate, then Rabie’s. “You could have started.”

Rabie rolled his eyes. “He said we had to wait for you.”

Derrick set her plate in front of her. “We’re learning manners.”