Occasionally, when time and place and the team’s plans allow it, Nicky still goes to church to pray. Mostly he prays about what he’s so thankful for that he cannot put it in anything else but the grand words of a prayer to the Lord. He is not Yusuf, who turns his emotions into poetry right when they flow from his heart and soul. For Nicky it isn’t that easy to express his feelings with words, but he can do it by using the calming rituals that have been ingrained in him since childhood and have been inside him through all the centuries.
Sometimes, when Nicky loses track of time, Yusuf comes looking for him, staying silent, waiting, just smiling softly at him. And Nicky always senses his presence, and for a short moment it seems to him that God is blessing him... again and again. He then grabs Yusuf’s hand and whispers “al-Ḥamdu lillāh” and Yusuf looks into his eyes, softly squeezes his hand and says “Amen”