A Thousand Splendid Suns

"You can imagine the rest. The boy went into the water unnoticed. They
spotted him a while later, floating facedown. People rushed to help, half
trying to wake up the boy, the other half the father. Someone bent over
the boy, did the…the mouth-to-mouth thing you're supposed to do. It was
pointless. They could all see that. The boy was gone."
Laila remembered Wajma raising a finger and her voice quivering with
piety. "This is why the Holy Koran forbids sharab. Because it always falls
on the sober to pay for the sins of the drunk. So it does."
It was this story that was circling in Laila's head after she gave Rasheed
the news about the baby. He had immediately hopped on his bicycle,
ridden to a mosque, and prayed for a boy.
That night, all during the meal, Laila watched Mariam push a cube of
meat around her plate. Laila was there when Rasheed sprang the news
on Mariam in a high, dramatic voice-Laila had never before witnessed
such cheerful cruelty. Mariam's lashes fluttered when she heard. A flush
spread across her face. She sat sulking, looking desolate.
After, Rasheed went upstairs to listen to his radio, and Laila helped
Mariam clear the sojrah.
"I can't imagine what you are now," Mariam said, picking grains of rice
and bread crumbs, "if you were a Benz before."
Laila tried a more lightheaded tactic. "A train? Maybe a big jumbo jet."
Mariam straightened up. "I hope you don't think this excuses you from
chores."
Laila opened her mouth, thought better of it. She reminded herself that
Mariam was the only innocent party in this arrangement. Mariam and the
baby-Later, in bed, Laila burst into tears.
What was the matter? Rasheed wanted to know, lifting her chin. Was
she ill? Was it the baby, was something wrong with the baby? No?
Was Mariam mistreating her?