CHAPTER 23

I don’t know why, but whenever something unusual happens in my life, we seem to end up with biryani on our dinner table. Mom and Dad had invited Lancelot Macintosh over for dinner to thank him for what he did for the mosque. Mrs. Hutchinson was coming, too, since he was her uncle and she’d helped so much with the talent show.

That day, Mom and Dad fussed around in the kitchen more than usual and cleaned until their backs hurt, because a gazillionaire had never been to our home before and they were nervous.

“What are you making, Mommy?” asked Esa.

“We’re making biryani, spinach curry, naan, samosas, lassi and moussaka.”

From The Lion King?” said Esa.

Mom giggled and explained that moussaka was an Arabic dish made with eggplant and ground meat, and not Simba’s dad from The Lion King.

“Remember when Esa used to call rice ‘mice’?” said Maryam, and then, doing a squeaky impression of him, she said, “I want curry and mice for dinner.”

While we were in the middle of practically wetting ourselves with laughter, I heard the roar of an engine and I ran to look out the window. There was a bright-yellow Ferrari!

For a minute, I thought Allah had finally sent my reward for the fast I kept during Ramadan. But then I saw Lancelot Macintosh and Mrs. Hutchinson hop out.

I guess gazillionaires have lots of money, and people with lots of money can buy expensive nice cars. And it was just like him to go for the most fun color of all.

What happened next was better than anything in the

Can you guess? I got to go for a ride with him before we had dinner! Sure, he didn’t let me drive it, even though I offered to pay him the $10 from my secret money-hiding place, but still it was the