“WAKE UP, ASEF,” my mother says. “It is time to eat suhoor.”
I wonder why the sky is still dark. Then I remember. Today is the first day of the holy month of Ramadan. We eat suhoor, the morning meal, and recite the fajr prayers before sunrise. This year I will fast like my big brother, Yaseen, and the grownups. That means we won’t eat or drink from sunrise to sunset.
Yaseen and I wash and dress. Today Yaseen will stay at home and read the Qur’an, the book of Islam, with our father. Not me. I have to go to summer school.
“Why can’t I fast at home with you and Dad?”
Yaseen shrugs. “Dad says you have to go.”
“It’s going to be crazy hot in the
