Page 90 of His Secret Gift

“No. I was just thinking about an old Somali proverb I heard when I was visiting there.”

“You’ve been to Somalia?” I could be wrong, but I thought it was a very dangerous place to visit.

“Very briefly and on my way back home after a months-long volunteer program in Kenya.”

Volunteer work. Huh.I wouldn’t expect that from someone so filthy rich, but it also reminds me that you can never judge a book by its cover. “What kind of volunteer work?”

“Well, I was in the Peace Corps.”

“What?” That’s very impressive.

He grins, and I assume he gets that surprised response often. Then, he fiddles with the straw in his water. “Yeah. In between high school and college. I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go or what I even wanted to be, so the Peace Corps it was.”

“What did you do?”

“Worked in schools, mostly.”

Aw. The idea of his strong, tall body being engulfed by a bunch of little kids melts my heart.

“Yeah, it was really rewarding. And,” he shakes his head, “kind of terrifying at points too. Especially when we had to go too close to the Somalian border.”

My brow furrows. “But you just said you went to Somalia.”

He shuffles in his chair. “Again, very briefly. Plus, I was wearing sunglasses and a headscarf. Terrorists target and kidnap foreigners. So, you can’t be too careful.”

“Wow.” I can’t imagine being somewhere so scary. Even Morocco was a big step for me, and I can hardly believe that I’m actually here.

“Anyway, back to the Somali proverb.”

Oh, yeah.I forgot how our conversation got directed here.

“I can’t remember the exact wording, but it was something about how a man without a camel cannot go to heaven.”

I lightly smack the table. “Well, that’s that then. We’ve gotta get you a camel”

He snickers. “Can you imagine? Just sailing around the world with a camel.”

“I think Murphy would like it!”

At that, he cackles. “Oh! I didn’t realize we were going to take one of these camels.”

I shrug. “Why not?”

“We’ll ask Dalia how much they are when we leave.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“I hope they don’t get seasick,” he jokes.

“Well, the two that they loaded onto Noah’s Ark didn’t. At least the Bible didn’t mention that.”

His eyes narrow at me. “I thought you said you weren’t religious?”

“I’m not. Not now. But I was forced to go to church a lot as a kid. It felt like a practically lived there in between services, youth groups, and everything else.”

“Huh.”

“What?”

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