Rabiah was a small boy with messy, long, brown hair that hung over his deep brown eyes. His skin was olive brown and seemed tightly wrapped around his bones, and he was very thin.

Rabiah lived in the desert. As a Bedouin boy, he spent most of his time herding goats. His family lived in a black tent made of camel and goat hair. It kept them warm in the winter. When summer arrived and the temperature soared, all they had to do was open the flaps on the tent and a breeze would blow through, keeping them cool.

He didn’t have a television, or a car, and he didn’t even have a refrigerator, but he did have his very own camel. Her name was Jasmine. His father had given him the camel when he was very young. Now he was ten. He and Jasmine were always together. Since Rabiah was small, he fit perfectly on Jasmine’s hump, once he was up there. It was difficult for him to get up by himself. His father used to have to help him, but now Jasmine simply got down on her knees and allowed him to climb on.

Jasmine’s blanket that fit over her hump. Rabiah tossed it on her every morning so he didn’t have to sit on her rough hair. It was wirey and stiff. The blanket was black, like the tent, as it too was made of goat hair.

Before he was able to ride Jasmine, he had to milk her. Rabiah was very good at milking camels and Jasmine always allowed him to do it. She didn’t bite him, or kick him, or spit at him. She loved Rabiah. He’d take the bucket of milk to his mother, who would churn it into butter and cheese. Rabiah always got the first drink of camel milk. He loved the creamy flavor.

One morning, after Rabiah and Jasmine had gone to tend to the goats, it turned windy. Grains of sand pelted Rabiah’s face, stinging him. Jasmine lay down. She didn’t like sandstorms either. The wind blew hard Rabiah gathered the goats and they all huddled around Jasmine. She protected them from the storm. There wasn’t a drop of rain, only hot howling winds.

When the storm passed, Rabiah stood up. He was covered with sand. It was an inch thick on his hair. The goats were covered in sand too. He laughed when he saw their faces. He could hardly tell they had black hair. The goats shook themselves off and ran off to find some plants and bushes to nibble on.

Jasmine stood up. She left a big hole in the sand where she had lain. She walked around for a while and all the sand fell off her fur. Her long eyelashes had protected her eyes from all the sand. Rabiah took her blanket and shook it out and then put it on her back.