strictly for children

One night when the moon was full and the playground was lit by moonbeams, the eagle-eyed Zia spotted old Sayid's dentures; the half-buried dentures teethed through the white sand and glared at Zia.

"Old Sayid's dropped his precious teeth again!" Zia tugged at his friends' sleeves.

Ali and Omar exchanged gleeful looks.

"What if he dropped them on purpose?" sounded Omar, Ali's brother.

"There's only one way to find out; we wait and see," said Zia, triumphant. This was the moment the boys had been waiting for. A few minutes later they were speeding home, the dentures safely snug in Zia's pocket.

"I'll keep them in my room for the night," said Zia, flush with excitment. "This will teach old Sayid a lesson he'll never forget."

Zia had had his fair share of enemies; young boys his age, a few older bullies here and there. But old Sayid beat them all, though the poor boy was condemned to address the elder neighbor as 'Grandpa' out of reverence for his advanced age.

 The old man lived too close for comfort, and this made ten- year-old Zia a 24-hour suspect. If a stray cat strolled through the old man's gate, old Sayid would poke his cane at Zia's home and tell everyone, "It must be him, that twiggy boy over there, you know, the straw-legged bonehead?"

When he left his ancient watch in the mosque and Zia kindly forwarded it to it's rightful destination, old Sayid would wring his cranky fingers:

"Someone running at the speed of light must have planted it, right here at my door step!"

Telling the old man to see this as a neighborly gesture was, of course, out of the question.

That pretty boy doing me favors? Zia choked with indignation at the memory of old Zayid's trademark snarls.

"Yeah, he thinks he owns the neighborhood!" chorused Omar and Ali whose home lay on the other side of the road. They, too, were up to their necks with the old  neighbor.

 And the boys yearned to get even. So they swore to keep the dentures.

No one noticed Zia as he slipped into his room, wrapped the dentures in an old cloth and hid them behind a wall of books.

Early Friday morning, a hard banging at the door had Zia and his sister, Roda, trip over each other to answer it.

"Assalamu alaikum, Grandpa!" Roda pushed the door in so as to let him in.

"Get out of my way!" old Sayid roared without moving an inch forward. "My precious teeth have gone missing and you haven't even woken up from sleep!"

"I'm sure they are lying somewhere safe," Zia's mother shouted from the kitchen. "If you'll just come in for breakfast, the kids and I'll go with you later, inshaAllah."

"I'll be waiting for you," he banged his staff on the hard tarmac, breaking the old cane in the middle.

"Allahu Akbar!" breathed Zia's mother as the old man hobbled towards the narrow lane dividing the two houses.

An hour or so later, a jittery Zia, his sister Roda and his mother's search for the dentures drew a nil at the old man's house.

"You'd better forget  about the dentures, Uncle," Zia's mother said at last.

"Forget my teeth? And how am I supposed to show my face at the mosque without my teeth?"

"Don't worry, Uncle. We get a replacement for you first thing tomorrow. As for the cane, I've a good one lying somewhere at home, Zia here will fetch it in a jiffy…"

Old Sayid was beside himself with anger.

"Replace my dentures…you must be madder than that pretty boy of yours!"

But this pretty boy's got your precious teeth! Zia's mind screamed. 

"Don't you worry about the cost, Uncle. You know we're always there for you…"

"I want my teeth back!"

"I think I've an idea…" Roda ventured, "we arrange a search party,…but first...where did you last see them?"

"In my mouth, stupid!" he snarled. "And now all of you get out. Make sure I don't get late for my prayers. It's Friday!"

Zia was suddenly cold. Ah! So it's Friday! his stomach turned. How did he forget that! Old Sayid loved to look his best on Fridays! Thoroughly combed and perfumed he made sure he stood at the front row and as near the Imam as possible.

Sweat splashed his face and his already curly hair knotted on his scalp, "Going over to Omar and Ali," he shot passed Roda. "Meet you at the playground."

"Good idea, Zia," his mother threw after him. "Off you go and tell the others. It's already late."

No sooner did Zia appear at Omar and Ali's door then the two brothers zoomed in on him. The three bolted out the door and sped towards their hideout at the back of the derelet construction site behind their neighborhood.

"We thought you'd never come," hissed Omar as he screetched to a stop.

"It was terrible in there. Old Sayid's in a terrible fit." Zia's face swam in sweat.

"That's the century's greatest news!" Omar kicked at an imaginary Sayid.

"Now what?" Ali's heart raced in anticipation.

"A search party, that's Roda's idea." Zia's skinny legs kicked at a nearby debris. "If we don't find the teeth it's bye-bye to old Sayid's Friday prayer...Can't picture him standing at the front row with an empty mouth!"

"Wow!" Ali hopped in the air. "This is a dream come true ! Old Sayid's going to miss the sermon today! That should keep him quiet for a day. Ha! Ha!"

"We can't do that to him!" Zia groaned. "Getting even is one thing, making him miss his prayers is another! This is a grave sin!"

"We're in it already, Zia. What's one more sin, anyway? Once a sinner, always a sinner, we've to live with it."

"But for how long?" said a bewildered Zia.

"We'd better get on with the search party, or people might start suspecting us," said Omar.

"Must we go through with this?" Zia limped after them as they dashed to meet the search party.

By ten, everyone including Zia, his sister, Ali and Omar were at the playground. The prayer call was just two and half hours away; still no sign of the dentures.

"So, what are we to do next?" Zia's sister asked.

"We go tell him," returned Ali. "High time old Sayid got himself a new set of teeth. Never liked the old ones, anyway."

"What if he gets mad and refuses to attend the prayers?" said Zia averting his gaze from Ali and Omar.

"Well, that's not our business," said Ali. "He is old enough. He can't expect us to pick after him forever."

"Let's not tell before we've searched some more," said Zia, decisive. "Ali and Omar, you come with me, and the rest of you go with Roda, and we meet again in an hour."

Everyone agreed for no one was in a hurry to meet old Sayid empty handed.

Once out of earshot, Zia turned on Ali and Omar.

"You know, the two of you are making things more difficut than they already are."

"Getting cold feet, aren't we, chicken?" jeered Ali.

"Want to spoil the fun, eh?" Omar threw at him. "Forgot who started the fun, haven't you, chicken?"

"But to make him miss the prayer?" Zia's chest began to hammer.

"Since the day I met him I'd been dreaming of a most dreaful revenge, but this beats all my nasty dreams. And now old Sayid's not only toothless, he's also quite wobbly! Thanks, Zia." Omar chortled.

It was evident that the two were enjoying themselves. And so, too, should I, Zia thaught. At exactly twelve-thirty his father expected him at the mosque. Now, how am I to stand before Allah, knowing what I've done? And how on earth could I bear to see another man stand in old Sayid's place at the front row?

"I'm giving back the dentures," he declared.

"We're in this together…you can't do this to us!" threathened Ali.

"No way are you going to do this to us!" Omar slammed at him.

"I've sinned enough. I might as well face it," said Zia. "I deserve punishment."

"A good beating, that's what you deserve," yelled Omar as he lunged at Zia and made him tumble over the rocks. Zia fought back braving the showers of punches from both boys.

Meanwhile, Zia's mother had already called on some of the mothers in the neighborhood and they all agreed to donate towards another set of dentures and a cane.

All conversation stopped as a bleeding Zia staggered itno their midst. His shirt was a shred, his face smeared with muck, the red-shot eyes drippping tears of anguish.

"The dentures are right here in my room," Zia declared. "And I don't expect anyone to tidy after me."

Soon, a well-scrubbed Zia, with dentures placed in a salted glasss of water, entered old Sayid's home.

He told the full story to old Sayid.

"I take full responsibility and I want us to forgive each other," he concluded. "I want us to be friends. Otherwise, one of us will have to move from the neighborhood."

"How perfect Allah is!" was all the old man could manage before he flew off his seat faster than he had moved since his wife's death five years ago. He returned with a can of Pepsi and a bar of Mars.

"They say this stuff's no good for a young man's teeth," he smiled a baby smile as he handed them to Zia, "but between you and me, that doesn't hold much water, for you are now looking at one who's never tasted the stuff."