Page 163 - A Woman Is No Man

Sarah mumbled something under her breath, but Fareeda didn’t seem to
notice. “As a matter of fact,” she said, turning to leave, “from now on you
can cook dinner with Isra every night.” She met Isra’s eyes. “You’ll make

sure she knows how to make every dish properly.”
“Of course,” Isra said.
“This woman is ridiculous,” Sarah said when Fareeda had left to watch
her evening show. “She treats me as if I’m some unworn hijab in her closet
that she’s desperate to give away.”
“She just wants what’s best for you,” Isra said, only half convinced by
her own words.

“What’s best for me?” Sarah said, laughing. “You really believe that?”
Isra said nothing. It was moments like this when she was reminded of
how different they were. Unlike Isra, Sarah wasn’t easily defined. She was
split between two very different cultures, and this divide was written all
over her: the girl who shrank whenever Fareeda lifted her open palm, who
barely spoke when her father and brothers entered the house, who rotated

around the kitchen table until they had been served, and the girl who read
American novels voraciously, who wanted to go to college, whose eyes, she
saw now, sparked rebellion. Isra wished she could regain the defiance she
once had, but that young girl was long gone.
“If she really wanted what’s best for me,” Sarah said, “she wouldn’t
want me to have a life like yours.”
Isra looked up. “What do you mean?”

“I’m sorry, Isra, but it’s obvious, you know.”
“What is?”
“Your bruises. I can see them through the makeup.”
“I . . .” Isra brought her hands to her face. “I tripped on Deya’s Barbie
doll.”
“I’m not stupid. I know Adam hits you.”

Isra said nothing. How did Sarah know? Did she hear Adam shouting at
night? Or had she overheard Fareeda talking about it on the phone? Did
Nadine know, too? She looked down, burying her face in the stuffed
cabbage.
“You shouldn’t let him touch you,” Sarah said. Though her voice was
low, Isra could hear her anger. “You have to stand up for yourself.”
“He didn’t mean to. He was just having a bad day.”