I.

With tiny paws he quietly walked towards me
Quickly, he started smelling my feet
I should have kept some treats on me! Why didn't I do that! Stupid! Stupid! 
He walked away in a blink of an eye, does that mean he doesn't like me?!
I panicked and ran towards him
I need to be liked! I need to be liked by him! 
He ran away, going after him wasn't the right thing to do
For the next few weeks I'd have to be patient
Weeks turned to months
Months to a year
He didn't seem to like me much, but we had become acquaintances
It was then that day, I was crying a lot
He poked his little nose at my toes
With his big green eyes, he stared at me for a while
His eyes said, don't cry mom
He sat beside me
I was baffled
I think he loves me

by Raida A.K. Reza

II.
Peak-COVID, 2021. The vaccine was here but not everyone in her small Texan town cared; many were still in denial of the pandemic. 
Audrey's silver lining was that she worked for a national company that sent their local branch employees home immediately upon the outbreak. Remote work was in effect the first year, and now, back-to-office was being required only for unavoidable trainings. 
Office policy was that masking was required for everyone unvaccinated. Audrey, with her immunocompromised condition, was one of the firsts to qualify for the vaccine. She also trusted the small group with whom she was scheduled for this training - they all took precautions.
When the corporate trainer had walked in unmasked, she still felt safe: He's from the big city, straight from the conglomerate, he surely knew better.
So imagine Audrey's utter bafflement when the trainer mentioned as part of "small talk" that he wasn't vaccinated, didn't plan to, already had COVID so had antibodies, etc. 
"Where's your mask!?" Susie - who took care of her elderly mother--immediately asked, but not to much avail. The next four hours the trainer would keep the mask comically under his nose, below the chin, dangling from one ear, or not on at all. 
"2020's increase in deaths was the largest in 100 years", Audrey remembered recently reading.
She had solely blamed the small town mentality for such deaths before. 
Now, as the big-city hotshot kept raising her anxiety every moment, no more.

by Ranya Rahim

III.

Jeff was baffled by Sarah's fasting practice. At first when the girl told him she will be fasting dawn to dusk the entire month, he thought she was doing some fad diet or something. 
But she has been not drinking even water or coffee and taking a lot of prayer breaks. At first Jeff and Julie were both annoyed. But when Sarah continued to finish her tasks on time, Jeff's annoyance got replaced by confusion. How is she doing this?  The days on east coast are 17 hours long. April has been hot. Julie continued to be irked and thought this as "Muslim nonsense". She feared Sarah would collapse and create problems.
But 20 days have passed and Sarah looked tired but determined to keep fasting in spite of multiple warnings from Julie, her manager. By the 24th day Jeff as Sarah's skip manager felt nothing but pure awe and admiration for the steadfast employee. 
He asked Sarah at the Eid party, he had Julie arrange for Sarah's team, "What kept you going?" 
Sarah replied instantly as if ready for the question "The love of Allah and an intense desire to prove Julie wrong!" 
The whole room including Julie broke out into laughter.
Both knew, Julie had been taking Sarah's day end tasks to let her go home early. After the party Sarah left Eid gifts for her cranky, confused but good-hearted managers.

by Wahida Mashrura Shukh