And the World Changed by Muneeza Shamsie

Author:Muneeza Shamsie [Shamsie, Muneeza]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781558619319
Publisher: The Feminist Press at CUNY

The two future parents-in-law walked to their car in a silence that continued during their journey. There was no need for communication. Each could guess what the other was thinking. On reaching home the so-called guests whom Begum had referred to earlier, had apparently gone. Their elder son, Farook, was not yet in. The younger one was upstairs, studying for his GCSE examinations. They could hear the music from the CD disc blaring away. He loved listening to songs as he revised.

Ayub shed his jacket and hung it in the hallway, then went straight to the living room. Begum followed, also taking off her coat and outdoor shawl. Switching on the television Ayub sat down in his armchair. Begum hovered listlessly near him a minute, looking down at her husband—waiting. Then, mechanically folding her woollen shawl into its customary neat folds, she left the room and went upstairs to her bedroom to place it in her drawer. For a few moments she stood lost in thought, looking out of the bedroom window: Her neighbor Mrs. Williams had another car. This was the third in six months. What did she do with them? Then she heard her husband call her name, his voice supremely autocratic.

Mrs. Williams and her love of cars put aside, Begum returned to the living room and sat down on the sofa opposite her husband, waiting for him to begin. Her heartbeat had automatically quickened. Seconds were ticking away into minutes. Her husband had made no move to say anything, his gaze on the newscaster. She picked up the Urdu national newspaper, Daily Jang, from the coffee table and began to read. More precisely she was pretending to read: The words were a blur in front of her eyes.

At last Ayub stood up, stretching his legs. Striding across the room he switched off the television. Returning to his chair his pointed gaze now fell on his wife.

“Well!” he began softly.

Now it was her turn to play; she pretended not to hear him or understand the implication of his exclamation. Absurdly, now that the moment of reckoning had come, she wanted to prevaricate, to put the off discussion.

“Well, what?” she responded coldly, buying time, peeping at her unsmiling husband over the edge of the newspaper.

“You know very well what I mean! Don’t pretend to misunderstand me, Begum,” he rasped. He was not amused by her manner, tone, or words.

Begum calmly examined the harsh outlines of her husband’s unsmiling face. She was lost. She did not know what to say or how to say it, although she knew the subject he was referring to. Her lips would not open. She simply stared at him.

“Well, what do you think of your future daughter-in-law? I thought you told me that she was a very sharif, a very modest girl. Was that naked waist what you call modest?” His voice lanced her.

“I am sure she is,” Begum volunteered defensively. After all, she was the one who had originally taken a liking to Miriam.

“Huh!” Ayub grunted.

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