Gidda’s Team 

1. The door slammed behind Malik, making Mama look up from the steaming stew. ‘Just in time for dinner. Will you fetch Gidda, please?’ 
2. Gidda was staying in Malik’s bedroom. He didn’t mind giving up his room for his grandmother at first. But then she didn’t leave. Gidda’s medicine bottles were strewn across his desk, and her dirty washing was piled atop his chest of drawers. Malik tripped over her suitcase on the floor. ‘Sorry,’ Gidda said. ‘I’m just a nuisance here. I’m useless.’ Malik didn’t answer as he helped her up from her chair. Mama worried about Gidda’s health, but Malik thought Gidda just needed to get interested in something.
3.  As they took their seats at the dinner table, Mama urged Malik, ‘Tell us about your meeting with the coach. How did it go?’
4.  Malik sighed. He’d been named captain of his football team. What that meant was a lot of meetings with the coach about money. Mr Garcia’s idea of a fundraiser was the car wash they held last week. The team washed two cars and made 500 rupees. Pathetic. They’d have to raise thousands of rupees in the next month to replace their faded grey football shirts, and that seemed unlikely unless Malik came up with a brilliant plan. The whole thing was a disaster.
5.  ‘Good,’ Malik said. 
6. Mama shot him a probing look. Reluctantly, Malik added, ‘It’s just team stuff.’ Changing the subject, Malik turned to Gidda. ‘Do you want to go and sit outside after dinner?’
7.  Gidda shrugged. But after dinner, Mama waved them out the door. ‘Go outside, you two,’ she said. 
8.  In the soft warmth of the evening, Gidda gave a satisfied sigh and settled herself beneath the enormous fig tree. ‘Feels like home,’ she said. Malik disliked the fig tree—it created a mess of overripe figs in the garden, which he had to clean up. 
9. ‘It drops figs everywhere,’ he said. Right then, a juicy fig landed with a splat on his head. ‘Ugh!’ Malik cried. Gidda chuckled, covering her mouth. Not funny, Malik thought, practically pouting. What he needed was a brilliant Isaac Newton moment to go with the fruit falling on his head
10. Gidda picked up another fig, brushed it off and took a bite. ‘Perfect. Pick me a bunch, Malik. I’ll make fig cakes. You will love them!’
11.  The next morning, Malik awoke to the sound of chopping. He found his grandmother in the kitchen, rolling little balls of figs and nuts. She offered him one. 
12. Malik, hoping it wasn’t too awful, popped it in his mouth. The fig cake exploded with sweet, nutty flavour. His eyes widened as he chewed. Gidda was right—it was delicious. He eyed the tree in the back garden. How many fig cakes could it produce? 
13. Malik grabbed his phone and frantically started texting in a rush of excitement (and sugar). An hour later, most of the football team had assembled in the kitchen, and they set to work devouring a plateful of fig cakes. 
14. ‘Gidda’s Fabulous Fig Cakes!’ Malik said, spreading his hands out in the air as if framing an invisible marquee. ‘We’ll sell them! Gidda said they were easy to make; she’ll show us how. Get ready to pick figs tomorrow—and no eating the ingredients!’
15. At dinner that night, Gidda shared their plan with Mama, beaming as she repeated the title Malik had bestowed on her: ‘Team Grandmother’. Malik cleared the plates, smiling proudly—could you be proud of your grandmother? Wasn’t it usually the other way around? 
16. The next day, the kitchen buzzed with energy. Gidda set up the boys at different stations: chopping nuts and figs, adding spices, rolling, dipping in honey, covering the balls in almonds. She walked slowly but deliberately among the boys, exclaiming, ‘Yes, exactly so, like my Gidda showed me!’ She also talked football. ‘My team is Al Ahly,’ she explained. ‘Best in Egypt. And Egypt’s team is the best in Africa.’ The fig cakes piled up as the stories flowed. 
17. As Malik predicted, ‘Gidda’s Fabulous Fig Cakes’ were a huge hit. The players sold them faster than they could make them. Gidda supervised three more fig-cake-rolling sessions. And Malik was grateful because he didn’t have to clean up any figs from the garden. The football team had picked them all. 
18. When the new kits arrived just in time for the opening game, Mr Garcia invited Gidda to watch them play. She arrived early, smiling and walking easily, and waved at Malik. Then she turned around to show off her shirt. On the back were the words Team Grandmother.