Women Without Men Read Free Page B

doing?”
    â€œHe’s not home. He is at work.”
    â€œWhat? At work? In the middle of all this commotion?”
    â€œEvery time he leaves the house he says he is going to the office. What do I know?”
    â€œThat’s interesting.”
    â€œInteresting is the way you are.”
    â€œI take it as a compliment.”
    â€œI’m not sure about that,” said Munis with a touch of playfulness. “Would you like some tea?”
    â€œThat would be nice. If it’s not too much trouble.”
    As soon as Munis left to get the tea, Fa’iza turned off the radio. It could interfere with the conversation that she had delayed long enough. When she returned, Munis sat directly across from Fa’iza, not saying a word. Somewhere Fa’iza had read that people with round faces are mentally
defective. She had run to the mirror to make sure she did not belong to this retarded group, although she had been made aware many times before, mostly by Nana Jan’s pejorative, hurtful comments, that she had horse-like features. Since she’d read this, Fa’iza had developed the habit of evaluating people based on the shape of their faces. Amir had decidedly an oblong face with a strong, square jaw. Munis, on the other hand, had a round face, like the full moon, or an egg. For the past ten years she had thought of Munis as an imbecile. Fa’iza had cultivated a friendship with her despite the fact that Munis was ten years her senior because she found in her a winsome sincerity and personal magnetism. A couple of years after their bonding as friends, Munis’s brother, Amir, entered the picture. Now, every time she paid Munis a visit, it was mostly in hopes of catching a glimpse of Amir Khan. If Munis had had a longer face, Fa’iza had speculated often, she would have been smart enough to arrange Fa’iza’s marriage to Amir Khan. Poor girl, Fa’iza thought to herself, why is her face so round?
    Alia brought in the tea tray. As they sipped tea, Munis kept glancing at the radio. Although she was older and in her own house, she did not have the self-confidence to exert her will and turn the radio back on. “Is it bad out there?” she asked.
    â€œIt is utterly chaotic,” Fa’iza answered.
    â€œAmir Khan warned me not leave the house. He said I might get my head cut off.”
    â€œWell, he is right. Someone jumped on the trunk of my cab,” Fa’iza added.

    Thinking that she should focus the conversation on her intended topic, she immediately asked “Have you seen Parveen lately?”
    â€œI haven’t seen her in a month,” answered Munis.
    â€œWell, why not?”
    â€œThe last time I saw her was when her child was sick with rubella. She told people to stay away to avoid spreading the virus.”
    â€œJust as well you didn’t see more of her.”
    Munis looked at her companion quizzically. Fa’iza waited for her to pick up the thread of the conversation, but the older woman remained silent, staring at the patterns on the rug. So Fa’iza had to continue.
    â€œNever in my life have I seen such an indecent person,” Fa’iza blurted.
    Munis lifted her head and looked at her with eyes awash in surprise. “But why?” she asked in bewilderment.
    Oh, God, I wish her face wasn’t so round, Faiza thought to herself.
    â€œShe’s mean and vicious,” she said venomously. “It is terrible to find this out about a person you have been friends with for fifteen years. She’s all pretense and not an ounce of sincerity in her.”
    There was something close to fear in Munis’s eyes as she asked, “What has she done? Sued for divorce?”
    â€œOh no. What divorce?” Fa’iza hissed. “That is the last thing she’d do, that filth. My poor brother is wasted on her.”
    Munis pursed her lips, completely absorbed. In her mind she was trying unsuccessfully to find a