Mustafa tiptoed into the living room and froze. Cousin Layla was hanging a paper lantern right above his head.
'You're too short,' she said, dangling it just out of reach. Mustafa stood on his tiptoes and stretched his fingers until the lantern brushed his nose.
Mustafa grabbed a spool of fairy lights and wrapped them around the doorframe — once, twice, three times — but kept tripping over the loose end.
'Again!' he declared, and cousin Sami laughed and untangled the wires while the house filled with warm yellow glow.
The boy pressed his forehead against the cool kitchen window and watched the sky turn orange, then purple.
'How much longer?' he asked for the tenth time. The older boy held up two fingers. 'Two moons,' he said, pointing at the real crescent above the garden.
The boy ran to help hang more lanterns, then climbed a small step stool to place golden crescent moon cutouts along the wall.
Cousin Layla smiled and handed him a tray. 'Almost ready,' she said, adjusting a lantern on the shelf.
Suddenly — whoosh! — the call to prayer echoed from somewhere nearby, and every lantern in the house flickered at once.
Mustafa jumped so hard he bumped into the table, sending a plate of dates sliding toward the edge. Layla caught the plate mid-fall with one hand and grinned.
'Ready now,' she said. The family sat cross-legged on the floor around a low tray. He took the first date and bit — sweet and soft.
He looked up at the crescent moon through the open window and then at everyone smiling back at him, and he reached for a second date without being asked.
