In a clearing in the forest behind C.S. Lewis’s house, I met a woman in a scarlet hijab sitting on a log.
It wasn’t until I had just knelt at his gravestone, moments before, that I understood exactly why he meant so much to me—pilgrimage works that way. The Chronicles of Narnia were the first books I loved, so I owed him not only my pleasure in reading, but my career and way of life. An orange cat witnessing the epiphany locked eyes with me from across the churchyard and picked its way over. I let some warm tears go.
Evuška had no concept of C.S. Lewis. She had simply sought escape from the bustle of Oxford. His walks with his pipe through that forest inspired a children’s classic, I tried to explain. “I wish I could find some fancy words to describe how magical this place is,” she said. She came from Slovakia years before only with the plan to study English and ended up converting to Islam.
“There is no amazing story. Just that my mind started changing slowly step by step. And then I thought I could be somewhere in between religions. You know you say that to people and they give you the most confused look ever.” So she decided to convert fully and even change her style of dress. Putting on the hijab turned out to be a relief.
“You may not be aware of this, but when you have lip gloss and wind blows your hair, it gets stuck and gives you a mustache. With a scarf on my head I didn’t worry about this anymore,” she laughed. “You become a bit less vain. I liked the change. Maybe it made me realize how vain I was before.”
I told her how much the character of Emeth meant to me in the last Narnia book. Lewis puts a Muslim soldier in heaven that baffles the main characters but whose inclusion forever changed my outlook as a child. She responded, “I don’t know if the Bible says this at some point, but this is what the Koran says, ‘God himself will be making the choices.’”
When we said goodbye, she added, “You are very lucky you get a chance to travel and meet so many people, for yourself or even for others, because it makes your life much richer. A lot of people get lost in their own lives.”
