Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie

Author:Kamila Shamsie
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Afghanistan, History, Nagasaki-shi (Japan), English Contemporary Fiction - Individual Authors, Japanese fiction, New York (N.Y.), Japanese, Fiction, Literary, Pakistanis - New York (State) - New York, Historical - General, General, Bombardment, Historical, War & Military, Fiction - Historical, Nagasaki-shi (Japan) - History - Bombardment, Pakistanis, 1945, Japanese - New York (State) - New York
ISBN: 9780312551872
Publisher: Macmillan
Published: 2009-04-15T07:00:00+00:00

19

He called three times before she was the one to answer the phone instead of her mother.

‘Hello, Fatima?’ she said when she picked up. ‘I have those notes for you. Wait, let me pick up the extension in the other room.’ He held on a few seconds, grinning to himself while running his hands over the unopened marshmallow packet. When she spoke again, her voice was throaty and sarcastic, nothing like the earlier tone of ordinariness. ‘How nice of you to interrupt your busy life and call me, Raza.’

‘Salma,’ he said, with that melting tone of adoration which he knew she loved. ‘Don’t be like that. I was at the beach with Uncle Harry – I only just got home.’

‘Oh, well, if you’d rather be with your American,’ she said, but he could tell she was impressed.

‘I asked him to bring you a present from New York.’ He pressed a yielding marshmallow through the packaging, and wondered if Salma’s breasts would feel anything like this.

‘You didn’t!’ she said, sounding a little faint. And then her voice changed. ‘You told him about me?’

‘Of course not. I said it was for me. Do you want it? If you do, you’ll have to meet me. Properly.’

‘What does “properly” mean?’

He hesitated a moment. This was delicate. But any American university would be proud to have him! Kim Burton also had test anxiety! His worth glimmered unexpectedly through the room.

‘It means . . . you know. I’m tired of you ignoring me every time I come to your house.’ Which was seldom, these days, but his mood was such he didn’t allow himself to be pulled down by that.

‘And what do you think my brother would do if he knew his friend was meeting me to . . . you know!’

‘I don’t mean “you know” like that, Salma. We’ve been talking every day for over a month now. How can you doubt that I respect you?’

This line met with no further success than it had on every previous occasion he’d tried it. Clearly another tack was necessary.

‘You know, you’ll regret this attitude when I’m gone.’

‘Gone where? To the soap factory!’

It was the first time she’d ever mentioned she knew where he went with his father each morning, and on any other day it would have devastated him. But now he just smiled.

‘I’m going to university there. In America. Uncle Harry says he’ll help me with the admissions, and make sure they even pay me to go. That’s the kind of thing they do there.’

‘I don’t believe you.’

‘It’s true. Meet me and I’ll tell you all about it.’

‘Why are you keeping on with this? I’m not going to meet you. What would happen to my reputation if someone found out?’

‘What do I have to do, send my mother over with a proposal? I’ll do it. You know I will. Come on, Salma, marry me and we’ll go to America together.’ He only meant it as a way of indicating he would never behave dishonourably with her,

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