Good Girls by Gazi Leesa

Author:Gazi, Leesa
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Amazon Crossing
Published: 2023-12-05T00:00:00+00:00

In the kitchen, Rabeya’s Ma was slurping tea. When she saw Farida she stood to attention like a soldier. But she couldn’t figure out where to put down her teacup.

“I left the detergent in the bathroom. Call me when you’ve finished the laundry. Where’s that haramjada—that bastard boy? There’s been no sign of him since morning.”

“He’s plucking Khalu Jan’s gray hair. Should I call him?”

“No, no need. When he came back, did he lock the door downstairs? Where’s the key? Oh, forget it, I’ll go and check whether he locked it or not.”

She exited the kitchen as if she’d been chased out, managed to open the front door, and darted down the stairs. The steps to the second floor and the roof were separated with an iron grille from which hung an enormous padlock. She pulled at it for no reason; it was clearly locked. She stood on the staircase and stared like a hawk at the two apartments on the other side, as if someone from one of them was spying on them, although one of them was empty. The tenant had left last month, and Farida hadn’t even put the “For Rent” sign outside the building yet. The other apartment was occupied; the tenants were a middle-aged couple; their only son was studying somewhere abroad. Farida had never asked where; she didn’t approve of being overfriendly with tenants. Earlier, the first-floor apartment had been just like theirs. Later, she’d had another kitchen built and split it into two apartments. Now the combined rent amounted to quite a bit of income for them.

Farida tugged at the lock to reassure herself before climbing back upstairs. No, from now on, she was going to keep the boy’s key with herself. He just had to ask her for it when he went out. Why hadn’t she thought of this before? Of course, the boy didn’t have the key when Farida wasn’t home; it was with Mukhles on those occasions. When she was home, she let the boy keep the key during the daytime only because she sent him out on errands a hundred times a day. But he handed the key back to her before evening fell.

Farida decided she couldn’t allow that anymore. Otherwise, one day she would find Abdul Bashir sitting in her living room, sipping tea and eating salted biscuits. Something like that had happened last week. The boy ran off with the keys the second the doorbell rang. Arrey, first check who it is—but the imp disappeared before she could say anything. That day it had just been the vegetable vendor. But it could very well have been Bashir. The thought made her heart stop.

She felt exhausted climbing the stairs. The door to their apartment stood open; the dining room was to the right of the entrance, living room to the left. The living room door was mostly kept shut. Every morning the boy swept and mopped the living room, along with all the other rooms. He dusted everything and then fastened the door.

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