on?».
Chapter 4:
A glimpse of future
To those, who found themselves in a moral predicament, the city “N” offered mollas – a mixture of fortune-tellers and priests, who could help you choose, whether to accept the situation or to be afraid of its consequences. These people were in a much more respectable position than casual frauds; as they predicted things using Koran – not coffee grounds or cards.
In search of peace of mind, Leila turned to a local molla. She invited one to their house to look at what destiny held in store for her children: especially for Ali – as he was to leave the country the next day for the three upcoming years. A woman in a hijab appeared at Abdul’s estate. She was wrapped in a black gown from head to feet, leaving just her eyes unveiled. Before crossing the gate border, she mumbled something turning her head right and left and then, carefully, as if she was checking the solidness of the ground, entered the yard. Leila welcomed her into the living room with a tea-set, including traditional baklavas and Turkish delights, laid ready for her.
With exploring eyes, the molla was looking from side to side then she opened her face revealing her bulky features – a flashy nose and a square chin. Despite the absence of wrinkles, her face seemed heavy and impossible to guess at her age. She took the book and beads out of her black bag and shuffled to the table. With a nod she invited Ali to the procedure. Koran was placed on the table. She muttered something under her breath in Arabic, then started blowing on the book. Ali was asked to open it with closed eyes and pick up a random page, which was supposed to tell his future – as it was taken as the Godly sign.
“You, my son, will be given exactly the thing your heart wants! It is said here,” – she proceeded interpreting the verse from Koran. Ali’s face lit up with joy and was whole-heartedly willing to believe the words of the woman, whose reputation he initially doubted.
Standing at the foot of the table, Hannah was observing all this from the corner of her eye. She could barely restrain herself from sneering at this absurdity. “A sign from God!” – she repeated to herself with a mock, – “What is the use of all this anyway?”. Nothing in the world could make her believe in the existence of that Creature in the sky. She lost her faith in praying to the Creature “All Mighty”. It is because she kept asking, where Its might was, when she pleaded It to avert Ibrahim, as well as when she was beaten. People referred to “IT”, using the pronoun “Him” – as to a “Man”. For Hannah, this partly explained the cruelty of “the Creature” – if “IT” indeed existed.
Leila insisted on looking at Hannah’s future, too. She was keen to leant, how soon the wedding would take place and how many children Hannah would bear. Obviously, nothing else was expected from the girl’s life. The expression on the molla S face changed rapidly, when she saw the Koran page that fell out for Hannah. Her eyes widened in surprise and she sighed, as if something terrible was written there. This happened to amuse Hannah: the object of consideration burst out laughing in the face of the doom.
“Hush, hush, girl!” – said the molla in an irritated manner and after a while added: “You will be married to a man – not from this Land. He is the man from the land of the evil spirits and cold.” By “evil spirits” she meant Christians. Any other religion apart from Islam was thought to be wrong and people who were not Muslims were referred to as “filthy”. She proceeded: “ Two children of the same gender… You, my girl, should pray to God so that Shaitan did not have a chance to lead you astray. You should devote your life to religion, otherwise your life will be a contradiction to the norm!”. A mixture of surprise and alert was ringing in her voice.
These words were taken at face value by Leila. She got pale, becoming deathly white in countenance at such predictions: “What exactly does “the contradiction to the norm” mean, anyway?” Would her daughter become a social outcast? Even a thought of it made Leila feel nauseated.
For Hannah’s disbelieving ears, the words of the prophet were a feast: she rejoiced at the idea of not getting married to Ibrahim.
Leila, sheepishly looking at the molla, asked if there was anything she could do to prevent the bad things of such future; if they could somehow influence the events and make them in accordance with their plan. The molla, with a solemn expression on her face, did not give the answer immediately. She stared at the table, analyzing and calculating in her head, what could be sold to this desperate woman and what price it would be reasonable to announce.
– Well, there are plenty of things which can be of a real help in your situation, – the molla went on counting suras (verses from Koran), arranging them in a decreasing in price order. By the astonished look in Leila’s eyes, the molla could guess that the pricetags were really unaffordable. With a desire to strike a lucrative deal she offered Leila to choose the one, which was commonly bought and which proved effective in most cases. They finally agreed on a moderately priced one.
One may wonder at how a verse from Koran could be bought. Mollas created a profitable business through their Religion. They took verses from The Sacred Book and copied them on a piece of paper in Arabic. Then they folded the handwriting into a small envelop like rag, which a customer should carry on himself for the rest of his life. People were ready to fork out on such things. Better than that they were looked upon as shields against all horrors of life. The harshness of the reality was too unbearable for the sufferers; and turned them literally into “drowning men catching at the straw of Koran”.
Chapter 5:
The parting
One thing that marred Leila’s mood at that time was the unpredictability of life. The sense of instability in any sphere of her existence frightened her more than death. At least in the latter there was permanence. Good or bad, it did not really matter so much, but the things had to adhere to a certain plan, which was formed partially by the society and partially by the fate.
The truth was that she knew her son better than Abdul did. Since times immemorial, Ali preferred to learn about his children’s achievements through his wife's narration, where Ali was presented as a poor lamb. The reality turned out to be far from the wife’s tales.
Ali used to talk about the local traditions with obvious contempt. He was sniffy about anyone who did not live up to his inner highbrow standards. Moreover, he had little or hardly any respect to the thought of marrying a girl, inferior to his own intellectual level. All these factors contradicted Leila’s ideal image of her son’s blissful future.
Now two outsize suitcases were put at the entrance door, inviting Ali into the world of new experiences. One of the bags was stuffed with eastern sweeties: oil dripping baklavas; kurabiyes and other homemade delicacies, which had been baked by Leila within the previous two days. Although Ali was more than glad to eat outdoors and hated the local cuisine (as well as everything related to the city), he put on a semblance of gratitude to Leila’s efforts.
The other case was filled with warm clothes: knitted sweaters and woolen socks, which his mum prepared for him, either, with exquisite care. Ali looked at these room-size trunks as a burden, which he had to carry leaving the country. For him it felt as if the local execrable stuff were clinging onto his departing limbs. But for his distressed mother, he would have shaken the things off. Sometimes his remarks inadvertently made his true attitude quite clear. Though most of the time, he thought, he succeeded in hiding it from the person, who brought him up and knew him better than he did himself.
Wearing a black suit with a blue-striped tie, Ali caught his reflection in the mirror. The realization of the fact, that he did not look like those curious European fellows on TV, made him sick. He was aware of his air of a villager, radiating from his persona: his
