Chapter 1

There once was a young muslim girl named Fatima who moved from Tuscon, Arizona to Tampa Florida. She was a beautiful girl. She was very nice. She had long brown hair down to her hips, and she had soft skin, and she was very obedient. Anyone, even the worst cons and burglars, would be pleased to have her. But her mother treated her like a piece of garbage. Clean the dishes, take out the trash, and did you even start making dinner? You've got three mouths to feed including yourself, now get to work. Her mother would scold. But one day she decided to sit under the beautiful tree that stood outside. Maybe after I unpack, she thought. So she sat under her beautiful tree and admired the pretty weather. The sun on her cheeks made her look rosy, but she frowned. She heard footsteps approaching. "Oh, no. My mother's gonna kill me", she worried.

But it was not Fatima's mother, it was her next door neighbor. Her neighbor was munching on a green crunchy fruit. "Hey, I'm Laura", the girl said. "I'm Fatima", she replied. The girl, Laura, was carrying some kind of small book with a purple ribbon. "May I ask why you are carrying that book with a purple ribbon?", Fatima asked.

"Oh, well, I always carry my bible around". "What's a bible?" "Wow, you've never heard of a bible? It is a book of rules and answers." "Oh, so it is like the Koran?" "Huh? Well, you can have mine, because I can just go to the bookstore and get another one". "Thank you", Fatima said, as she carefully took the book from Laura's hand. "Well, I gotta run. I've need to help my mother bake a cake, and you might want to go also. I think it's gonna pour", Laura said.Fatima started to get up.

She looked up and a raindrop plopped on her forehead. So she started to walk. A drop fell from the heavens and tickled her cheek. She looked around then at her feet. What if mother had called her? She raced back to her house then slammed the door shut. thankfully when she got back her mother was fast asleep. OH no she forgot her book! Fatima stared out at the pouring rain. Even though she had never read that book she felt a burn in her throat, she had to get it back.But when she looked carefully under the tree she saw that there was no damage. She saw that not one drop of water had touched the book, but a bright light shining on it. As soon as the rain stopped she rushed outside to grab her book before her mother woke up. She skipped along the grass and when she took her bible, she hugged it victoriously. Her friend,Sofia from Arizona was coming over tomorrow and she wanted to show her the new book. Today she wanted to make something special for Sofia and put it in the fridge. But first she had to make dinner. She got the frozen cheese pizza and started to heat it up. Done. Then she got the old rusty cookbook that she found when she moved in. She found a delicious recipe for coconut cream cake but it looked hard,really hard. She made it anyway but it turned out to be too fluffy.

So she filled the cracks in with creamy vanilla icing so no one would know that it was to puffy. She served the pizza to her family and one slice for her. Then she tried to serve some cake to her mom and with two mouth fulls her mom said, "Average."Then Fatima rushed to her room and quickly put the word in big letters across the `Greatest things my mom ever said to me!`list. Then she tried a slice herself. She tasted a rainbow! But it could have been a pot of gold if she had added the caramel sprinkles that her mom had locked in the pantry for special times like Ramadan. (after the fasting days.) Then she tried to give some to her dad when he got back from work. He took one bite and said "Its just perfect,honey."then he threw up in the kitchen sink.(the side without the garbage disposal.) Her dad had to call the plumber because her mom was afraid to get her newly designed plastic fingernails in there. And dad was busy eating cake. But her dad explained, it wasn't the cake that made him barf,it was that he choked on his garlic chocolate granola mint this morning at breakfast and the taste from it lasted all day until finally he threw up. And he said that he will never buy anything from any of the vending machines in his work office ever again even if it only has 14 calories. Fatima stuck the cake it the fridge and hoped that tomorrow her friend would tell the truth about the mystical cake. The next morning she found herself with her head stuck in Luke, from the bible. she was reading about a man named Jesus. Was there really this man,this man who forgave people of doing wrong? Fatima marked her spot with a green crayon and stuffed it in her drawer when she heard the doorbell ring twice. But it was not Sofia. It was the mailman who came to deliver a brown package. Her mom who ripped the box viciously stepped on Fatima toe on her way to throw the package away. Fatima was used to this kind of behavior but was now curious about what her mom threw away. As soon as her mother left she dug up a small white book. She knew it! Why was her mom so against these bibles? She looked at it again. It was "Our daily Bread" a book that her family had been getting it ever since Fatima was five years old. She had remembered that her mom got furious and sent a letter back complaining and cursing about "You know who my god is and my god will protect me from your misdeed and cruelty. Never send another stinky book and if you do i will never read it the rest of my life on earth or my afterlife! Now leave my family be!"her mother yelled thought the paper. Though Fatima never thought this possible. But the Christians didnt stop and that made her mom even more furious.She heard a knock on the door and quickly put all the wrapping in the garbage can and went to go answer the door.