Blue-Haired Muslim

Chapter 2: Pixie

Sam was sure they'd be late for his father's Arabic class at the local mosque. Being a roughly new convert to Islam, Max was still learning many aspects of Arabic in an effort to recite from the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam. Samuel Maximus Jameson Senior, or Max, had read the translation of the Qur'an many times in his life before finally converting to Islam. Samuel Maximus Jameson Junior, or Sam, had watched his father struggle with the Arabic in the Qur'an for years. When they learned that the local mosque offered Arabic classes for all, Max quickly signed up, even though it meant staying up during the day.

"I hope the shaykh doesn't start on time," Max whispered in hope before parking the car in the parking lot.

"He's the teacher, right? Why don't you go ahead and run to the class? I'll lock the car, dad," Sam suggested and watched his father nod and haphazardly run towards the mosque's front doors.

Sam took his time as he closed the doors to the car before locking them. The Arabic class was roughly two hours long, which meant that he had some time to kill. He liked walking around the mosque's perimeter or even swinging on the swing set that stood proudly in the mosque's attached playground. The mosque was located in a rather large military city, so he always seemed to see one or two soldiers running in and out of the mosque to pray. Today was no different as a young man dressed in his combat uniform raced past Sam with a Qur'an in his hand.

"He must be late to the Qur'an class too," Sam deduced before heading towards the playground. He noticed that a bunch of children were playing on the playground, supervised by two women who sat at a nearby picnic table. Sam didn't want to bother the kids or the adults, so he decided to sit on one of the benches that lined the perimeter of the playground. Before he could settle down and reach for his trusty phone, he noticed that a group of kids were now staring at him from the playground.

The children bunched together and began whispering before pointing at Sam's hair. Sam sighed and ran a hand over his faux hawk. He didn't want any attention drawn towards him. He just needed to kill some time while his father studied. When one of the children decided to run to the adults before pointing at him, Sam decided that he had to take his leave. The last thing he needed was a couple of Muslim women asking him what he was doing there. He didn't really want to explain that he was waiting for his dad, but since he wasn't Muslim, he was waiting outside.

He decided to head back towards the parking lot. He could sit in his car in peace and he was sure he wouldn't get any unfavorable looks. Before he could reach the outer perimeter of the lot, he heard a pair of small footsteps running behind him. Sam turned in time to see a little girl, no older than four or five run over to him. She caught up with Sam and huffed as she tried to catch her breath before looking up at the teenager. The little girl had dark hair, cut in a traditional bob cut with a textured fringe. Her blue eyes were set on Sam as she huffed and wrinkled her small nose before holding up a small pendant.

"I think this is yours," the little girl said as she finally caught her breath and held the pendant higher.

The little girl seemed to turn her r's into w's as she spoke, making Sam smile a little while he reached out for the pendant. He was grateful for this little creature. He hadn't noticed when the pendant had slipped off his wrist. The pendant, a small princess formed from silver wisps around an emerald, was precious to him. It was the only thing Max hadn't sold that belonged to Sam's mother. It was an old family heirloom from his mother's side of the family. Even when they were dirt poor and really needed the money, Max had refused to sell the pendant. The elder Jameson had vehemently reassured Sam that he needed at least one thing that Seraphina had owned.