Page 197 - A Woman Is No Man

Fareeda

Fall 1995

Fareeda had suspected all along that Umm Ahmed would not be interested

in Sarah for her son. It was because Umm Ahmed didn’t share Fareeda’s
view of the world. She thought Fareeda wasn’t religious enough, that she
shamed girls too much. But at least Fareeda understood the way the world
worked, unlike Umm Ahmed, whose daughter Fatima had gotten divorced.
She was sure Hannah would get divorced, too. That’s what happens,
Fareeda thought, when you live life as though you’re in a TV commercial,
everyone running around laughing, falling in and out of love.

“The phone never rings when you wait for it,” Fareeda said now,
chomping on a stick of gum and staring at Nadine, who had joined her in
the sala. It was the beginning of the school year, and Isra was waiting for
Deya at the bus stop. It was her first day of preschool.
“Who are you expecting to call?” Nadine asked, smoothing her hair.
“Just a potential marriage suitor.”

“Oh.”
Fareeda knew what she must be thinking. Somehow the summer had
passed, and not one suitor had asked for Sarah’s hand in marriage. Perhaps
the other Arab mothers thought Sarah wasn’t good enough, Arab enough.
Perhaps, like her, they preferred a girl from back home. All of this was
possible, but deep down Fareeda couldn’t help but fear it was the jinn, still
haunting their family after all those years, as if Isra’s girls were a payback

for what she had done.
Nadine cleared her throat and Fareeda straightened. She hoped the girl
couldn’t sense her fear.
“You’ll miss her, you know,” Nadine said, looking at her with her stupid
blue eyes. “She’ll be married soon, and you’ll miss her.”

“Miss her?” Fareeda tucked her yellow nightgown over her knees.
“What does that have to do with anything?”