Page 43 - A Woman Is No Man

Nora and Layla smiled, but Amal just sighed. “I’m going to miss you.”
“I’m going to miss you, too.” Deya’s voice cracked as she said it.
Outside the window the light was getting duller, the wind settling. Deya

watched a handful of birds gliding across the sky.
“I wish Mama and Baba were here,” Nora said.
Layla sighed. “I just wish I remembered them.”
“Me too,” Amal said.
“I don’t remember much either,” Nora said. “I was only six when they
died.”
“But at least you were old enough to remember what they looked like,”

said Layla. “Amal and I remember nothing.”
Nora turned to Deya. “Mama was beautiful, wasn’t she?”
Deya forced a smile. She could barely recall their mother’s face, just her
eyes, how dark they were. Sometimes she wished she could peek inside
Nora’s brain to see what she remembered about their parents, whether
Nora’s memories resembled her own. But mostly she wished she would find

nothing in Nora’s head, not a single memory. It would be easier that way.
“I remember being at the park once.” Nora’s voice was quieting now.
“We were all having a picnic. Do you remember, Deya? Mama and Baba
bought us Mister Softee cones. We sat in the shade and watched the ships
drift beneath the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge like toy boats. And Mama and
Baba stroked my hair and kissed me. I remember they were laughing.”
Deya said nothing. That day at the park was her last memory of her

parents, but she recalled it differently. She remembered her parents sitting at
opposite ends of the blanket, neither saying a word. In Deya’s memories,
they rarely spoke to each other, and she couldn’t remember ever seeing
them touch. She used to think they were being modest, that perhaps they
loved each other when they were alone. But even when she watched them
in secret, she never saw them show affection. Deya couldn’t remember why,

but that day in the park, staring at her parents at opposite ends of the
blanket, she’d felt as though she understood the meaning of the word
sorrow for the first time.
The sisters spent the rest of their evening chatting about school until it
was time for bed. Layla and Amal exchanged goodnight kisses with their
older sisters before heading to their room. Nora sat on the bed beside Deya
and twisted the blanket with her fingers. “Tell me something,” she said.

“Hm?”