Words in the Dust by Trent Reedy

Words in the Dust by Trent Reedy

Author:Trent Reedy
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2011-01-01T05:00:00+00:00


The next morning before prayers, Malehkah and I washed off the dried henna to reveal the deep amber and brown swirls on Zeynab’s skin. It looked beautiful, but we couldn’t admire it for long. There was a large breakfast to cook after prayers. Baba didn’t want to give Uncle Ramin a chance to complain about the food.

After that, most of the hot day was devoted to getting ready for the nikah. We cleaned both the house and the people in it. I swept and scrubbed the sitting room on my own while Malehkah and Zeynab bathed Khalid and Habib. Later, when the sitting room and house were ready and all of us were washed and dressed in our best, it was time to prepare Zeynab.

In the side storage room, I helped my sister into the beautiful embroidered green dress that she and I had worked on and dreamed about for years. “Are you nervous?” I zipped up the back of her dress.

“Hmm. I think maybe there are two kinds of nervous.” Zeynab closed her eyes as I brushed thick white makeup onto her cheeks. “There’s that feeling you get when you are worried about doing something you don’t want to do. Then there’s a happy anxious feeling, when you’re excited because a wonderful and important moment is approaching. I’m happy nervous.”

“I’m happy too,” I said. Neither of us spoke as I finished putting on her makeup and curled her hair, pinning it up into a pretty crown. Maybe I should have said more, but we’d been so close for so long that we didn’t always need to talk, especially when all that remained to discuss was what we both already knew. This was the end of our time together, and although we’d always dreamed about our weddings, now that Zeynab’s had come, we would miss each other terribly.

The door opened. Malehkah and all the other women came in. She examined Zeynab and nodded. “Tahir is in the sitting room with the rest of the men. The mullah has arrived.”

Zeynab squeezed my hand and stepped toward the door. “Should we go?”

“Just wait.” Malehkah held up her hand. “The mullah will send two witnesses to ask if you are willing to get married. After they take back your answer, your father will sign the papers for you. Then the mullah will lead a prayer and the nikah will be over.”

“You mean they don’t even need her to be there?” Khatira asked.

Malehkah’s mother and sister laughed. Aunt Halima hugged her daughter. Malehkah scowled. “I wasn’t present for mine.” She shrugged. “It’s tradition.” Zeynab frowned. When Malehkah saw her disappointed look, she went on. “There’ll be plenty to do at the arusi in Hajji Abdullah’s house. Gulzoma says she’s even hired two bands, one for the men and one for the women’s party.” She sighed. “Should be quite a show.”

Then it was quiet for a while. We waited, and I held Zeynab’s hand.

After a few minutes, Najib and Baba’s brother Ramin came to the door and asked Zeynab if she was willing to marry Tahir.



Download



Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.