Page 169 - A Woman Is No Man

constantly did as she pleased, or Isra, who followed commands like a
zombie and still had not borne a son. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Really,” Sarah said. “I could go right after school. That way you don’t

have to wait until Sunday each week.”
At once, Fareeda stopped chewing. She swallowed. “Are you crazy?”
Sarah looked confused. “What do you mean?”
“What would I look like, sending my unmarried daughter to the market
by herself? Do you want the neighbors to start talking? Saying my daughter
is out and about alone, that I don’t know how to raise her?”
“I didn’t think of it like that,” Sarah said.

“Of course you didn’t! You’re too busy stuffing your head in those
books of yours to notice what really goes on in the world.”
Fareeda wanted to shake Sarah. It seemed like everything she tried to
teach her about their culture rolled off her shoulders. Her only daughter was
turning into an American, despite everything she had done to stop it. She
had even asked Isra to teach Sarah how to cook, hoping her complacency

would rub off on her daughter, but it hadn’t worked. Sarah was still as
rebellious as ever.
“That’s what I get for coming to this damn country,” Fareeda said,
snatching a handful of cookies. “We should’ve let those soldiers kill us. Do
you even know what it means to be a Palestinian girl? Huh? Or did I raise a
damn American?”
Sarah said nothing, her eyes glistening with something Fareeda couldn’t

quite place. Fareeda scoffed and turned to Nadine. “Tell me, Nadine,” she
said. “Did you ever dare ask your mother to go to the supermarket alone
back home?”
“Of course not,” Nadine said with a smirk.
“And you—” Fareeda turned to Isra. “Did you ever step foot in
Ramallah without your mother?”

Isra shook her head.
“You see,” Fareeda said. “That’s how it’s done. You ask any woman,
and she’ll tell you.”
Sarah stared out the window in silence. Fareeda wished her daughter
would understand that she didn’t make the world the way it was. She was
just trying to help her survive in it. Besides, Sarah should be thankful for
the life she had, living in a country where she had food to eat and a roof

over her head—enough of everything.