In addition to the above information, a handful of people who
knew Shak agreed to divulge their own experiences with her. For
economy's sake, The Flying Steed could only include the following
accounts:
Hasan Uddin, Shak's 5th grade teacher: "I gave the students a pop
quiz once. For as long as I live, I'll never forget Lisa's. Question 1:
Muhammad was Allah's last what? 'Name.'"
Ataur Sorker, Shak's ex-husband's friend: "So, praise Allah, the
pilgrimage is almost complete. I'm in Mecca with a group of
Bangladeshis, among them Lisa. We're all set to enter Al-Masjid; I
mean we're literally five meters from the entrance, and Lisa thinks
this is a good time to complain of being hungry. Never mind that
earlier she mistook 'Kaaba' for 'kebab' and asked our guide just
how old the kebab is.
"Anyway, we go eat. Lisa takes an hour to finish; the woman stuffs
her face like a f***ing cow, it's unbelievable. At long last, we enter
Al-Masjid. There's the Kaaba, the most beautiful, perfect sight on
the planet. We proceed forward, closer and closer.
"It takes a while but we're finally standing at arms-length from the
sacred structure. I can't believe it. My heart is denting my chest,
it's beating so hard. Slowly I inch my arm forward. I'm about to
touch the Kaaba. Me! Ataur Sorker! I feel like the jihadists closing
in on the first tower. This is the greatest moment of my life! My
hand is right there; in the next second it will forever have the
Kaaba branding its prints.
"That's when I hear this horrible noise. I turn to my right and
there's Lisa hurled over, gurgling at the mouth. And in the next
moment she's puking out her morning eggs all over the Kaaba.
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