The Book of Fate Read Free Page B

goodbye, he took me in his arms, turned to Mother and said, ‘Sister, for the love of God don’t marry this flower off too soon. Let her get an education and become a lady.’
    Uncle Hamid was the first person in our family to travel to the West. I had no image of lands overseas. I thought it was some place like Tehran, except farther away. Once in a while, he would send a letter and photographs to Granny Aziz. The photos were beautiful. I don’t know why he was always standing in a garden, surrounded by plants, trees and flowers. Later, he sent a picture of himself with a blonde woman who wasn’t wearing hijab. I will never forget that day. It was late afternoon; Granny Aziz came over so that Father could read the letter to her. Father was sitting next to his mother on the floor cushions. He first read the letter to himself and then he suddenly shouted, ‘Wonderful! Congratulations! Hamid Agha has got married and here’s a picture of his wife.’
    Granny Aziz fainted and Grandmother, who had never got along with her, covered her mouth with her chador and chuckled. Mother hit herself on the head. She didn’t know whether to swoon or to revive her mother. Finally, when Granny Aziz came to, she drank plenty of hot water and candied sugar and then she said, ‘Aren’t those people sinners?’
    â€˜No! They’re not sinners,’ Father said with a shrug. ‘After all they’re well read. They’re Armenian.’
    Granny Aziz started hitting herself on the head, but Mother grabbed her hands and said, ‘For the love of God, stop it. It’s not that bad. He has converted her to Islam. Go ask any man you like. A Muslim man can marry a non-Muslim and convert her. And what’s more, it merits God’s reward.’
    Granny Aziz looked at her with listless eyes and said, ‘I know. Some of our prophets and imams took non-Muslim wives.’
    â€˜Well, God willing, it is a blessing,’ Father laughed. ‘So, when are you going to celebrate? A foreign wife really calls for a festivity.’
    Grandmother frowned and said, ‘God forbid, a daughter-in-law is bad enough, now to top it off this one is foreign, ignorant and clueless about purity and impurity in our faith.’
    Granny Aziz, who seemed to have regained her energy, collected herself, and as she got up to leave, she said, ‘A bride is a home’s blessing. We’re not like some people who don’t appreciate their daughter-in-law and think they’ve brought a maid to the house. We cherish our daughters-in-law and are proud of them, especially a Western one!’
    Grandmother couldn’t tolerate her boasting and snidely said, ‘Yes, I saw how proud you were of Assadollah Khan’s wife.’ Then she maliciously added, ‘And who knows if she has in fact converted to Islam. Maybe she has made a sinner out of Hamid Agha. In fact, Hamid Agha never had proper faith and practice. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have moved to Sin-estan.’
    â€˜You see, Mostafa Khan?’ Granny Aziz snapped. ‘Did you hear what she said to me?’
    Finally, Father intervened and put an end to the squabble.
    Granny Aziz quickly threw a large party and bragged to everyone about her Western daughter-in-law. She framed the photograph, put it on the mantelpiece and showed it to the women. But up until the moment she died, she kept asking Mother, ‘Did Hamid’s wife become a Muslim? What if Hamid has become an Armenian?’
    After her death, for years we received very little news of Uncle Hamid. Once I took his photographs to school and showed them to my friends. Parvaneh really liked him. ‘He’s so handsome,’ she said. ‘He’s so lucky to have gone to the West. I wish we could go.’
    Â 
    Parvaneh knew all the songs. She was a fan of Delkash. In school, half the girls were Delkash fans and the other half liked Marzieh. I had to become a Delkash