Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil by Deborah Rodriguez & Kristin Ohlson

Author:Deborah Rodriguez & Kristin Ohlson [Rodriguez, Deborah & Ohlson, Kristin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780812976731
Amazon: 0812976738
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Published: 2007-12-18T05:00:00+00:00

AFTER I LIT MY CIGARETTE, I waved the match around in the air to put it out, but it continued to flame. So I touched it to a bead of sweat that had formed on the side of my margarita glass and watched it fizzle. I lifted the glass to nibble a crust of salt from the edge, then caught sight of Sam looking at me from across the room. The contempt in his eyes was unmistakable.

“Don’t think I’m going to give up my cocktails just because you went and got religion,” I muttered to myself as he strode from the room.

Sam had finally returned to Kabul. He had argued so energetically at the airport in Saudi Arabia that they’d decided to let him ride in the cockpit. We had a joyful reunion, but the stress of the next few weeks all but destroyed that joy. First of all, he had come back from Saudi Arabia different from the man I had married. He was a party guy when I met him, always the first to hoist a glass and crack a joke. But he had been overexposed to all those pilgrims back in Mecca. He was now praying five times a day and scowling if he saw me drink or smoke. It was kind of scary, but Roshanna assured me that all the hajjis came back like this and that it wouldn’t last long. Then there were other, huge problems. While he was gone, his partner in the well-drilling business had drained the money out of their checking account and left the country. Thieves had stolen some of his construction equipment, and three of his workers had been kidnapped. He was trying to salvage his business at the same time that I was trying to reopen the school. The cultural expectations each of us had brought into the marriage soon became huge hurdles. I knew we were going to be able to work through these differing expectations only with a lot of patience, but neither of us had much. We were expending our patience elsewhere.

I had really been looking forward to having Sam as an ally while I struggled to prepare for the second class. He had always been a staunch supporter of the school but was now so testy that he wasn’t much help. And it was getting harder and harder to go to the Women’s Ministry every day. The minister’s assistant kept asking me if my funding had arrived. I kept assuring her that it was coming any day now. She questioned why it was taking so long, but fortunately, she didn’t push me too hard. In the meantime, Topekai and three of my best students from the first class came every day to help me. I was grateful for their assistance and their companionship, but I also felt terrible that I couldn’t pay them. They kept saying, “No problem, no problem,” but I knew they were all desperate for a salary. I intended to hire them

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