Chapters 12 and 13
Translated by Phoebe Bay Carter.
Chapter 12: The Days (2)
Sunday, September 11th: I can’t take it anymore. Allah, why are you punishing me like this? Isn’t it enough that I wear myself out at the café and then come home to piles of housework waiting for me? Not to mention playing maid to our tenants. And all this on top of taking care of the monster with his evil smell that just about kills me every time I open the door. And now you send Aymen and his friends to mock me? Aymen, the boy who’d promised to marry me as soon as we finished school, now brings his friends to ridicule the valedictorian who used to be better than all of them and now is stuck waiting tables in a cafe. Fine. I can take that. But then to come back with a new girlfriend just to taunt me? That whore. Her tight leather pants were practically begging for mercy as they struggled to contain her ass. And her buttons were threatening to pop off her blouse like bullets. As if that wasn’t enough. But no. As soon as Aymen left, my sister-in-law showed up. I’ve had it. Ya Allah, I can’t stand it anymore. If only you would send me a husband to get me out of this misery.
Monday, September 12th: A detective and his team from the police department showed up today, asking after Jawad. My father let them in and asked what they were looking for. They insisted on seeing Jawad, so he showed them to my brother’s room. They looked all over the room and stared at Jawad in disgust. Then they left, grimacing. Before leaving, the detective informed us that they had found Jawad’s wife murdered, along with the owner of the apartment where she’d been found. I received the news coldly, as though it didn’t concern me at all. I wasn’t surprised. I felt like I’d been expecting it all along.
Chapter 13: Eleven Minutes
Hind couldn’t believe her eyes. She had been leaning on the café counter sipping tea, watching the door, when her brother’s wife Sara walked in, arm-in-arm with another man. She looked different, with her hair tied back and lips painted a deep red, wearing a low-cut blouse and tight jeans that showed off her curves. Hind froze. Probably the entire café could hear her heart pounding.
Hind didn’t snap out of it until one of the waiters poked her to tell her that her table’s order was ready. She picked up the tray and took the long way around to her customer. She wanted to pass by Sara’s table, “accidentally” trip, and spill a glass of juice on her. But in her confusion, she tripped too soon. The glass spilled on the tray and only a few drops splattered onto Sara’s face.
Sara yelped and jumped up. Her companion got up too, cursing Hind in a dialect from somewhere in the eastern edge of the Arab world. Hind wiped tears of humiliation from her eyes and shouted at the man, “Aren’t you ashamed to be sleeping with a married woman?” Sara grabbed Hind by the shoulder with one hand and planted a slap on her cheek with the other, then shouted, her eyes nearly popping out of her skull, “Shut up, you daughter of a whore!”
An uneasy silence fell over the café and took control of Hind’s tongue. She moved her lips but couldn’t form any words. She pursed her lips, clenched her fists, and rose up on her tip toes. Everyone thought she was going to lunge at Sara’s throat, but instead she spun around and ran for the bathroom, where she gave in to her tears. All she could think in that moment was how much she hated her boyfriend Aymen for leaving her, and how much she hated her brother Jawad.
No, not just hated him. She loathed him. He was the reason for all of this.
Her coworker went after her and tapped on the open door before coming inside. Hind turned to him. She furrowed her brow and glared at him, trying to frighten him. Then she grabbed his lapel and pulled him towards her. She pushed him up against the wall with her body, pressing her lips against his. He was so caught off guard that it took him a full minute to push Hind away. Then he ran out as though the devil himself were after him.
Hind looked at herself in the mirror. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She straightened her blouse, fixed her hair, and washed and dried her face. She checked her appearance again. She stood up straight and furrowed her brow. Then, with a frown fixed upon her face, she went out to finish her shift.