A Thousand Splendid Suns

few toys Laila had fought Rasheed to buy her. Aziza watched the
proceedings with a docile look. Rasheed's watch too was sold, his old
transistor radio, his pair of neckties, his shoes, and his wedding ring. The
couch, the table, the rug, and the chairs went too. Zalmai threw a wicked
tantrum when Rasheed sold the TV.
After the fire, Rasheed was home almost every day. He slapped Aziza.
He kicked Mariam. He threw things. He found fault with Laila, the way
she smelled, the way she dressed, the way she combed her hair, her
yellowing teeth.
"What's happened to you?" he said. "I married apart, and now I'm
saddled with a hag. You're turning into Mariam."
He got fired from the kebab house near Haji Yaghoub Square because
he and a customer got into a scuffle. The customer complained that
Rasheed had rudely tossed the bread on his table. Harsh words had
passed. Rasheed had called the customer a monkey-faced Uzbek. A gun
had been brandished. A skewer pointed in return. In Rasheed's version,
he held the skewer. Mariam had her doubts.
Fired from the restaurant in Taimani because customers complained
about the long waits, Rasheed said the cook was slow and lazy.
"You were probably out back napping," said Laila.
"Don't provoke him, Laila jo," Mariam said.
"I'm warning you, woman," he said.
"Either that or smoking."
"I swear to God."
"You can't help being what you are."