There was a Jew, a Christian, and a Muslim(2)

(Cont. from Jew, Christian, and Muslim 1)

Around the same time Elizabeth entered my life, I also met another woman who introduced me to the meaning of terror. Her name was Najalla, a Muslim girl from Iran but whose family had ties in India. She was in our Biology for science major’s class also, in addition to her brother Anwar. She had an older brother who enlisted in the Army, presumably to bring it down from the inside. We forgot his name, so Lizzy and I called him "Jihad Joe". We'll speak about him later.

Najalla was the stereotypical Muslim woman that you would see on the CNN. She wore a full burka from head to toe except for the face mask. She allowed her face to be exposed. She wore an all black one, and she wore it all the time. Rain, snow, summer heat, tornado's and even in the occasional Texas locust storm. She kind of looked like a Star Wars character, like a female Jedi. She was a hardcore Muslim, at the age of eighteen she had doctorate in religious studies from a madrassa in Saudi Arabia. At noon she would stop what she was doing, point her body towards magnetic Mecca and pray. And I mean anywhere. One of the first times I studied with her, she stopped talking, pulled out her prayer blanket and started praying. From the outside of the study room it looked like she was crouched under the desk with me sitting there, so I got up and waited outside till she was done.

Her brother Anwar was something else. He had the stereotypical beard and head gear. But from the beginning Lizzy and I knew he was different. He was the first Muslim I ever met with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder. He spoke about joining the FBI, CIA, and WIC...etc. In class we realized that Najalla was the smart one. Anwar would mess up in lab, while his sister tried to clean up his messes. I discovered that if I reflected light into his eyes, it had a calming effect on him. When he would talk about how he was going to be the first Muslim to have a pork BBQ restaurant, I would flash the microscope light on and off like he liked in order to get him to shut up. If he got too annoying, we would toss something shiny down the hall so he would go chase it. My theory was that Anwar was an Al Qaeda training camp reject. Osama realized that the best way to get rid of him would be to send him to south Ft. Worth to start his own terror cell. Anwar was the kind of terrorist that would pull the pin on a grenade and throw the pin instead of the grenade. When he constructed an IED (improvised explosive device), instead of filling with steel shrapnel he would use Skittles, thereby detonating a rainbow of goodness.

Najallas older brother enlisted in the Army as a Patriot battery crew member. His dad owned a dry cleaner and received his business degree from TCU (Texas Christian University). The father didn't want him to join the military, but he did anyway because he didn't want to run his dad's business. Anwar was doing his best to work at the drycleaners and bankrupt it. Jihad Joe would send letters back home to Najalla, telling her how tough basic training was. Little did he know that Elizabeth and I were in the Military. His rank started at private, then as basic went on he suddenly earned the rank of "Commander". When Najalla told us about his promotion, she was excited that he was doing well. I had to tell her that he was indeed a commander, a Starfleet commander. After that she would tell us what he would say and then we would tell her what was true and what wasn't. One day her mother was in Pakistan and had to have surgery. Najalla was beside herself and wanted to notify her brother in the military. Through the Red Cross I was able to get word to him about his mother. A few days passed, and no answer. I called the battalion CQ to try to find out whether Jihad Joe got the word. After speaking to the 1st sergeant (I acted like a family member) I was told that Joe was on casual status, he wasn't even in basic! He had hurt himself during a PT test and was on profile. He stated that he didn't want to go home and that he was happy doing details/busy work. I told Najalla, and she flipped. After talking to her brother directly, he came to Ft. Worth. As a token of her gratitude she took Elizabeth/her hubby and me to dinner at the Blue Mesa Restaurant. The dinner at Blue Mesa was a culmination of all the experiences shared with Najalla and Elizabeth. So before we go to the restaurant, we need to share some more details.

©2011 Augustine A. Zavala