Page 229 - A Woman Is No Man

Khaled raised his hand. “I said uskuti! Shut your mouth!”
“Or what? You’re going to start beating me again? Do it! Put your hands
on an old lady, you filthy man! Instead of screaming at this girl, why don’t

you go punish your damn son for beating her senseless? What are we going
to tell her parents, huh? That our son beat her so hard she needed stitches?
And what if someone at the doctor calls the cops? What if your son goes to
jail? Tell me, have you thought about that? Have you?” She turned to look
out the window. “Of course you haven’t. I’m the one who has to do all the
thinking around here.”
Khaled sighed. “She shouldn’t have left the house like that.” He met

Isra’s eyes in the rearview mirror. “A woman’s place is her home. Do you
understand?” Isra didn’t reply. “Do you understand?” he said more loudly.
Isra nodded and looked away. She feared what she might say if she
spoke. It was the first time Khaled had ever reminded her of Yacob—loud,
overpowering, furious with her—and she felt herself involuntarily shrinking
away whenever she glanced up to find him still studying her in the rearview

mirror. She looked away again, panicking. If Khaled was this angry, what
would Adam do to her when he saw her?
Isra faced the window the rest of the ride home. Every now and then,
she looked up to find Fareeda staring absently out the passenger window.
Isra wondered what she was thinking. Fareeda had never once in the past
seven years defended her. What did it mean? Did Fareeda understand her
after all? Did she love her, even? Her own mother had never stood up for

her despite the many times Yacob had beaten Isra in her presence.
Isra felt a tide of helplessness spread through her as she thought of her
life. She hadn’t asked for much. Why couldn’t she get it? She must have
done something to deserve her miserable fate, only she didn’t know what,
so she didn’t know how to fix it. She wished God would tell her what to do.
But in the silence of the car she asked God, and He said nothing.