Page 230 - A Woman Is No Man

Fareeda

Winter 2008

I’ll stand here all night if I have to,” Deya told Fareeda in the kitchen. “I

won’t leave until you tell me what happened.” She moved closer. “If you
refuse, I’ll never speak to you again. I’ll take my sisters and leave, and
you’ll never see us again.”
“No.” Fareeda reached out to touch her, but Deya stepped away.
“Please.”
“Then tell me the truth. All of it.”
“It’s the jinn,” she croaked. “It’s the jinn from my daughters.”

Whatever answer Deya had been expecting, it was clearly not this. She
stared at Fareeda with confusion in her eyes. “What are you talking about?”
“That’s what possessed Adam and Isra. That’s what’s been haunting this
family all these years. The jinn from my daughters.”
“What daughters?”
She told Deya all of it: how her belly had swelled soon after her

marriage to Khaled, how hopeful he had been at the gift of new life, the
possibility of a new beginning in such a desperate time. Only Fareeda
hadn’t given him the son he had dreamed of, the young man who would
help him find food and water, who would help him cope with the burden of
their family’s loss, who would carry on the family’s name. She had given
him balwas instead—not one but two. She had known, even before seeing
the mournful look on his face, that he would be disappointed. She hadn’t

blamed him. The shame of her gender was engraved on her bones.
Deya sat down. “What happened to them?”
“They died.” The words felt heavy on Fareeda’s tongue. They had
remained unspoken for so long.
“How?” It was clear she was still angry, but her tone had softened

slightly.
“Khaled’s mother made me feed them formula. She said breastfeeding
would stop me from getting pregnant, and we needed a son. But there were