Dear Mom,

It was so good to talk with you on the phone yesterday. So reassuring
and comforting to hear your voice. Like I said on the phone I can
truly feel or sense the prayers and support of so many people in the United
States. It made me cry too as we said good bye. When I hung up the
phone and looked up, the phone shop manager looked into my eyes which were
full of tears. He is a young guy, looked about the same age as me. He
looked at me so tenderly for a second and then, believe it or not, his
eyes filled with tears too. Right away like typical men we pulled
ourselves together. "How much for the phone call?" I asked him. "1500
dinars," he answered.

I've cried more here in Baghdad than I have in years; it's such a sad
place; past attacks and the threat of another American bombing make
the people very scared and sad.

This is not the end of the story though. I stepped out of the phone
shop back into a minor sand storm with a strong wind whipping sand through
the streets. The sky was very hazy and I couldn't see very far because
of the blowing sand. Outside the phone shop a young shoe shine boy was
waiting for me. His name is Hassim and he always hangs out nearby our
hotel. Hassim had followed me all the way to the phone shop hoping to
shine my shoes. Normally that sort of interaction is annoying, but
Hassim is different; so cheerful and conversational(even though he
speaks Arabic and I only speak English). Anyway, I came out of the
store still feeling kind of teary eyed but I didn't want to show this little
chipper shoe shine boy that I was crying-how could I? He works hard on
the cold sidewalk just to eat, right? So I put on a happy face and
grabbed his heavy shoe shine box which he was lugging along with a
leather strap over his shoulder. I slung the box over my shoulder
making sure that the brushes, rags and bottles of polish didn't spill out.
"Mister(he said it mista), come!" Hassim said with a grin, and took
off running with the wind and swirling sand. I followed him up the
littered sidewalk running at a pretty fast pace. Son I found myself jumping
over flowerpots and a small pile of bricks. I followed Hassim as he leaped
over a trash can and ran up and down a flight of steps in front of a
store. He kept yelling, "Mista, come, come!" and laughing. Soon I
found myself laughing and also panting out of breath, the little guy can
really run. I could taste a little sand in my mouth.

We walked for a while, it was my turn to make Hassim laugh. Guess how
I did it. I imitated his voice and started asking people on the
sidewalk, "Mista, shoe shine?" I asked a guy in front of a restaurant selling
chicken kababs. He kind of frowned and shook his head. Then I asked
another man and he smiled and then laughed out loud. We must have
looked pretty funny, this tall American carrying a shoe shine box and this
little skinny Iraqi shoe shine boy. Then I asked a soldier with a big
gun if he wanted his shoes shined. The soldier was guarding an office
building and he looked kind of bored and tired of standing on the
sidewalk. "Mista, shoe polish?" I asked. The young Iraqi soldier
grinned at us and then shook his head.

Hassim and I were just turning the corner when somebody called out to
us. It was the soldier. Sombody from the office building wanted to
talk to me, the crazy American running around with a shoe shine box. I was
a little nervous as I walked back down towards the soldier and a small
group of people. "My name is Mustafah," a big man with a mustache
said. "Hello, I'm Micah," I replied. Mustafah introduced me to his two boys,
Omar and Muhamed. Omar was kind of shy and his dad wanted him to shake
my hand. I shook his hand and then before he could run away I tickled
his belly and that made him laugh. Mustafah asked me why I was in
Baghdad and I said I wanted peace, "salaam", for Iraqis and Americans.
Mustafah pointed up at the sky full of whirling dust and said, "may
God grant us peace." I nodded my head and said, "yes, na'am, yes." Hassim
and I said goodbye to Mr. Mustafah and his boys then we ran the rest
of the way back to the hotel to get out of the wind.