Mariam
was upstairs, playing with Mariam," Zalmai said."And your mother?"
"She was...She was downstairs, talking to that man."
"I see," said Rasheed. "Teamwork."
Mariam watched his face relax, loosen. She watched the folds clear from his brow.
Suspicion and misgiving winked out of his eyes. He sat up straight, and, for a few brief
moments, he appeared merely thoughtful, like a captain informed of imminent mutiny
taking his time to ponder his next move.
He looked up.
Mariam began to say something, but he raised a hand, and, without looking at her, said,
"It's too late, Mariam."
To Zalmai he said coldly, "You're going upstairs, boy."
On Zalmai's face, Mariam saw alarm. Nervously, he looked around at the three of them.
He sensed now that his tattletale game had let something serious adult serious into the room.
He cast a despondent, contrite glance toward Mariam, then his mother.
In a challenging voice, Rasheed said, "Now!"
He took Zalmai by the elbow. Zalmai meekly let himself be led upstairs.
They stood frozen, Mariam and Laila, eyes to the ground, as though looking at each other
would give credence to the way Rasheed saw things, that while he was opening doors and
lugging baggage for people who wouldn't spare him a glance a lewd conspiracy was
shaping behind his back, in his home, in his beloved son's presence. Neither one of them
said a word. They listened to the footsteps in the hallway above, one heavy and foreboding,
the other the pattering of a skittish little animal. They listened to muted words passed, a
squeaky plea, a curt retort, a door shut, the rattle of a key as it turned. Then one set of
footsteps returning, more impatiently now.
Mariam saw his feet pounding the steps as he came down. She saw him pocketing the key,
saw his belt, the perforated end wrapped tightly around his knuckles. The fake brass buckle
dragged behind him, bouncing on the steps.
She went to stop him, but he shoved her back and blew by her. Without saying a word, he
swung the belt at Laila. He did it with such speed that she had no time to retreat or duck, or
even raise a protective arm. Laila touched her fingers to her temple, looked at the blood,
looked at Rasheed, with astonishment. It lasted only a moment or two, this look of disbelief,