But my father must know by now that he will lose me forever if he pushes too hard. I am not willing to stay and take that chance; I realize that now. I will iron smooth my thoughts, try to be patient and kind and see what is in store for me. I have faith that he will do what is right, having already lost so much ... and so while I remain unconnected, like a charm without a chain to hang from, I am happy.

12 SORAYA Success

12SORAYASuccess

Sameer Samaha, Um Radwan’s third son. His story is the saddest Nawara story I know. I knew him quite well, perhaps better than anyone. He was my father’s relative and he lived with us when he first came from Nawara.

Everybody liked him because he kept to himself and didn’t get in other people’s business. People said that he had a white heart, which means it’s clean and good. I liked him, and he liked to talk to me and to my mother about his life and his dreams. Sameer came to this country to be a success story, not millionaire success, but a place here and a house in Nawara and lots of kids and enough money to be a happy kind of success. That’s not my fantasy, but that’s what so many people want, mostly men, and mostly older men; they don’t usually talk like that when they are in their teens or twenties. Sameer was different from most of the guys who come from Nawara. He never seemed to get distracted by glittery Los Angeles, but he didn’t judge it, either. He worked for my dad with his businesses and also in our grocery store. He never argued about the long hours he had to work, or the low pay I’m sure he got, or even about how boring it was. He always said that he knew he would be something if he worked hard for it.

Things are never what you think they’re going to be. Our loud loud neighborhood got on his last nerve because the music, the shouting, or the police cars would keep him up at night, and he was already tired. I am so glad we don’t live in that neighborhood anymore. He got to be like everyone else, who learns to take it, or leaves. He took it, and covered his irritation by doing more work, which my parents really liked.

Something else that made him so different from everyone else was that he didn’t spend money. Hardly anything.