Hana Ismail lay on her stomach in front of her youngest nephew, Muhammad, her camera in hand, poised and ready.
"Hamoudi! Muhammad habibi look at Amtu!"
"No!" the two year old exclaimed before throwing a teddy bear at her. She quickly lowered her beloved camera, taking the toy in the face.
"Now Hamoud we don't throw things!"
"I sorry Amtu," He said, before kissing her on her cheek, and she laughed as he turned back to his toys. She waited a few seconds to make sure he was completely engrossed, before scooting closer to him, tilting the camera at an angle upwards, and snapping away.
"Hey!" the baby exclaimed in astonishment as the flash went off, and she moved with a laugh as he tried to grab the camera. She changed modes on her camera, looking at the picture she had taken, frowning when she realized it was blurry. But Hamoudi was staring at her distrustfully now, so she would have to bide her time before she took another shot of him.
"Hamoudi, can Amtu play with this?" she asked, holding up a firetruck, and he regarded her with a conflict flashing across his face, as if he wanted to grab the toy and claim it for himself. But eventually he gave her a grin and nodded.
"Ya! I have this one." he said, holding out a large boat, and she smiled encouragingly at him.
"Good! Let's play then!" they played for a few minutes, before Hana gently set down the toy, and lifted up her camera, trying not to make any sudden movements that would alert her nephew to her plans. Thankfully he remained absorbed in his game, and she slid down onto the ground, lowered the camera, turned off the flash...
"Hana what are you doing?"
Her sister Ilham's questioning voice coming from the doorway almost made Hana miss the shot, but thankfully she managed to snap it just in time before Hamoudi glanced at her in slight annoyance, and as she sat up, she looked at Ilham, giving her a large grin.
"I was taking a picture of Hamoudi!"
Ilham laughed and sat down next to her youngest son who gave her a smile, before climbing up into her laugh, and resuming his playing. Ilham kissed him on the back of his head, before she quirked an eyebrow at Hana.
"Why do you need to be on the floor?"
"I was trying to get a new angle." Hana said sheepishly, "I've been making a collage of black and white photos and the way he was looking at his toys was so cute, and I wanted to get a picture looking up at him at an angle like the camera was a toy."
"I see," Ilham said with a smile, "did you get any good shots?"
Hana straightened out her legs, and extended her camera towards her sister.
"This one is pretty cute."
Ilham took the camera, trying to keep it out of the baby's reach, and smiled widely.
"Aw it's beautiful Hana! Can we get a copy for his baby book?"
"Of course!" she took the camera back, scrolling through the pictures before giving it back to Ilham. "This picture of Lulu and Hisham is cute too!"
Ilham grinned at the picture of her husband and her daughter, before lowering the camera slightly so that Hamoudi could look at the picture too. Hisham was holding Layla on one shoulder a large smile on his face, and the little girl was gripping her father's hair, her face a mixture of fear and excitement.
"It's adorable!"
"What's adorable?"
Ilham's face lit up with a huge smile as her husband came into the room, and she swiftly handed Hana back her camera, rose to her feet, and shifted the baby onto her hip so she could greet Hisham properly. As he bent to kiss her, Hana dropped her gaze to her camera, trying to ignore the pang in her heart. She loved her brother and his wife, but it was so obvious that they were totally in love, their three children only seeming to increase their affection for each other, and the more time she spent around them, the lonelier she felt.
"Salaam Hanoon!" Hisham exclaimed once he had pryed himself away from his wife's kisses, and made his way over to his sister. She gave him a smile, returning his embrace.
"Walaikumasalaam!"
"You okay?" he asked, peering at her suspiciously as if he could feel the internal battle she had raging on, and maybe he could, he knew her so well after all.
"Yup!" she exclaimed with a cheerfulness she didn't feel. "Just looking at the pictures I took of Hamoudi."
"They are beautiful habibi you have to see them!" Ilham exclaimed, pulling her son's hands out of her hair, and Hisham smiled, extending his hand for the camera.
"Let me see here," as he scrolled through the pictures his smile got wider and wider. "Hana habibti, you are absolutely talented Ma Shaa Allah, these are incredible!"
Hana blushed fiercely as the two of them heaped praise on her, and she hurriedly took the camera back, slightly uncomfortable. She didn't do too well with being the center of attention, and she didn't like having people look at her, which made photojournalism an odd choice for a career. But she loved it with all of her heart and if she had to endure a few hours of feeling out of place to get a few nice shots or to get an interview, which had yet to happen, she would!
She was still doing Quran and Islamic Studies classes at the Masjid, all these years later after Yusra had left. It gave her a little extra money to spend on camera equipment that was too expensive to ask her parents for, and while she loved her students, she wished that she was doing something in her line of work. It certainly wasn't for lack of trying that she had yet to make it. She had graduated from UC Santa Barbara three years ago, and had been applying to everything even remotely related to her major, and had yet to get any acceptances. It was disheartening but she had to keep trying. One day she would get an interview or cross paths with a star, and that would be her lucky break!
As she now glanced up at Hisham and Ilham, the pang of loneliness in her heart got stronger. Hisham's arm was around his wife's waist and they were listening to Hamoudi babble on about something. Eventually Hisham threw his head back and laughed loudly before pressing his lips to Ilham's head, and she closed her eyes, a smile on her face. It was a beautiful shot, and as Hana hurriedly snapped a picture, the two of them looked over at her in surprise as the flash went off, and she offered them a smile.
"It was such a perfect picture I couldn't resist."
Ilham laughed, and gave her son to her husband before going forward and hugging Hana.
"Thank you! I want copies of all of the pictures you have on that camera!"
"Of course!" Hana said returning her sister's embrace. Once Ilham had let her go, she put her camera in its bag before shouldering it. "I should go."
Ilham's face fell.
"Oh Hana you have to stay for dinner! Dawud and Layla will be home from school soon and will be so upset if they miss you!"
"Sorry Ilham, maybe next time, I have Islamic Studies class." She said apologetically, and Ilham gave a sad sigh.
"Well let me fix something for you to eat on the way!" Ilham exclaimed and Hana laughed.
"Thank you dear but I'm ok. I'll get something after class!"
It took her another five minutes to convince her sister that she wouldn't starve during class, and after hugging and kissing everyone goodbye, she went out to her little blue bug. Ilham had given it to her when the children came along as she needed a bigger car to fit their car seats, and while at first she had been mortified that they were just giving her a car, she loved it. It fit her personality perfectly, and it always made her smile when she saw it.
As she got into the car, she started the ignition and backed out of the driveway, pausing at a red light to turn on the radio, flipping through the channels. She came to a halt at one of the stations as she heard the name 'Shaykh' and realizing it was the ending of the championship game between the Lakers and the Celtics she turned up the volume.
"With only ten seconds left on the clock, and both teams tied, you can feel the tension in the air!"
"The Lakers no doubt will use their star player, Hoozam Shayk to make the winning shot, and yes here he goes. Dribbling down the court, they have him boxed in, he shoots the ball to Crewe, side steps his guards, dashes under the basket, Crewe throws him the ball, they are coming after him and..."
Hana tightened her grip on the steering wheel murmuring a 'Bismillah' under her breath.
"AND SCORE! ANOTHER AMAZING SHOT BY SHAYK! THAT'S IT! THE LAKERS WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME FOR THE FOURTH YEAR IN A ROW! And here they are giving the MVP pin to none other than Hoozam Shayk! That man is on fire, and has to be one of the best players I have ever seen in all of my years!"
"I have heard him labeled as the 'Muslim Michael Jordan!"
"That's perfectly fitting considering Jordan is his idol!"
"Here comes the man of the hour now!"
"Mr. Shaykh congratulations on winning the championship game again! How does it feel to win MVP for the third year in a row!?"
"Thank you so much! It feels great of course. I can't even express how happy and blessed I am."
Hana smiled widely as Houssam's deep voice filled the speakers of her car, and if she wasn't driving, she would have closed her eyes to savor hearing him.
"Did you expect to win?"
"You know Grant, you really cannot know for sure. There are some very talented teams out there and everyone gives it their all. All you can do is try your hardest and pray that you make it!"
"Now that the season is over what are your plans?"
"I plan to spend as much time as possible with my family!"
Hana's heart began to beat fast as she realized that meant he would be coming home. She hadn't seen him in two years except for when she saw him on her television screen, and while she didn't want to admit it as she wasn't one to trust with her heart so easily, she had missed him.
A lot.