Raghad's Best Friend Siwar Moves to a Faraway City

Raghad and Siwar had been best friends since they were three years old. They lived in the same building, Raghad on the second floor and Siwar on the fourth. Every afternoon, they played on the wide stairs between their flats.

They had a secret knock. Tap, tap, tap-tap-tap. When Raghad heard it on her door, she knew Siwar was there. When Siwar heard it on hers, she knew Raghad was there.

They shared crayons and stickers and the last biscuit in the packet. They drew pictures of cats with crowns. They built a fort of cushions on the landing and called it the Castle of the Two Queens.

Then one evening, Siwar came down the stairs very slowly. She did not do the secret knock. She just stood at the door, holding her mother's hand, with her eyes wet and red.

"We are moving," said Siwar in a tiny voice. "Baba has a new job in a city far away. We are leaving in one week."

Raghad felt as though the floor had tipped under her feet.

"Far away?" she said. "How far?"

"Very far," said Siwar's mother gently. "We will have to go on an airplane."

That night, Raghad could not stop crying. Mama sat on the edge of her bed and stroked her hair.

"Who will I play with on the stairs?" sobbed Raghad. "Who will know our secret knock? Siwar will forget me. She will have new friends, and I will be all alone."

"It is very sad when a friend moves away," said Mama softly. "It is all right to feel sad. But a real friendship is not kept in one building, my love. It can travel."

Raghad sniffed. "How can a friendship travel?"

"We will think about it together," said Mama. "Tomorrow."

The next morning, Raghad woke up with an idea. It was a small idea, but it felt like a warm light.

She took a shoebox from the cupboard. She covered it with yellow paper and drew stars on it, and two queens with crowns, holding hands.

"What are you making?" asked Mama.

"A friendship box," said Raghad. "For Siwar to take with her. So she will not forget."

All week long, Raghad filled the box.

On Monday, she put in a drawing of the Castle of the Two Queens, with every cushion colored in.

On Tuesday, she put in her very best sticker, the shiny one with the rainbow unicorn. It was hard to give it away. But she wanted Siwar to have it.

On Wednesday, she pressed a little purple flower from the window box between two pieces of paper and put it in the box.

On Thursday, she asked Mama to help her write a card. In her biggest, careful letters, she wrote: SIWAR, YOU ARE MY BEST FRIEND. Then she drew a heart and colored it red.

On Friday, she and Mama made biscuits shaped like stars. They wrapped two of them in paper and tied them with a ribbon. One for Siwar, and one for Siwar's little brother.

Then came Saturday, the last day.

The building was full of boxes and noise. Men carried a sofa down the stairs. Siwar's father was taping up cardboard boxes. Siwar sat on the bottom step, looking lost.

Raghad came down with her yellow box. She sat beside Siwar and put it in her lap.

"This is for you," she said. "It is a friendship box."

Siwar opened it. She looked at the drawing of the castle. She touched the purple flower. She held the shiny sticker. She read the card slowly, and then she began to smile, even though tears were running down her cheeks.

"I made something too," she said.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a bracelet made of beads. It was blue and yellow, Raghad's favorite colors. In the middle was a bead with an R on it.

"I have one too," said Siwar, showing her own wrist. Her bracelet was pink and green, with an S. "So we can both wear them and remember."

Raghad slipped the bracelet onto her wrist. It fit perfectly.

Then Siwar's mother came over, holding a piece of paper.

"Raghad," she said, "this is our new address. And this is our phone number. Siwar can call you every Friday, and you can talk and see each other on the screen. And you can send letters, too. Real ones, with stamps."

Raghad held the paper tightly. "Every Friday?"

"Every Friday," promised Siwar's mother.

Before they left, Raghad and Siwar stood at the door of the flat one last time. Raghad lifted her hand and knocked. Tap, tap, tap-tap-tap.

Siwar laughed through her tears. She knocked back on the wall. Tap, tap, tap-tap-tap.

"Even far away," she said, "I will knock our knock on my new door. And I will think of you."

Then they hugged, a long, tight hug, and Siwar climbed into the car with her yellow friendship box held close. Raghad waved and waved until the car turned the corner and was gone.

The stairs were very quiet that afternoon. Raghad sat on the landing where the Castle of the Two Queens used to be. She looked at her blue and yellow bracelet, and she felt sad, but not as sad as before.

On the next Friday, the phone rang.

"Raghad!" said Siwar's voice, bright and bubbly. Her face appeared on the screen, smiling. Behind her was a new room with a big window. "Guess what? I knocked our knock on my new door. And a girl next door knocked back! Her name is Lamya. I told her all about you."

Raghad felt a tiny pinch of worry. But Siwar was holding up her wrist. The pink and green bracelet was still there.

"She wants to be your friend too," said Siwar. "Can she say hello?"

A shy face with a big smile peeped into the screen. "Hello, Raghad," said Lamya.

Raghad smiled back. "Hello, Lamya," she said.

That evening, Raghad sat at the kitchen table with her crayons and began a new drawing. It showed three girls with crowns, holding hands, in front of a very big castle made of cushions.

"Who is that?" asked Mama, looking over her shoulder.

"That is the Castle of the Three Queens," said Raghad, and she reached for the yellow crayon.