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Quite
rapidly, my sisters begin to flip through the pages in their
hands, to see for themselves if our family's secrets have been
made public.
Only
Sara gives me her support. She quietly gets to her feet and
slips behind my back, resting her hands on my shoulders,
reassuring me with her soft touch.
After
his initial outburst, Kareem is quiet. I see that he is
reading the translated copy of the book. I lean sideways and
see that he has discovered the chapter that tells of our first
meeting and consequent marriage. Sitting perfectly still, my
husband reads aloud the words that he is seeing for the first
time.
Father's
angry shouting arouses the enthusiastic hatred of Ali, and my
father and brother quite outdo each other in their verbal
assaults on my stupidity. Amid the passionate disorder, I hear
Ali shout out the accusation that I have committed treason.
Treason?
I love my God, country, and king, in that order; and I shout
back that "No! I am not a traitor! Only a haphazard
council of mediocre minds can reach a conclusion of
treason!"
As my
anger builds, my fear is receding.
I
think to myself that the men in my family are proof that men
and women can remain at peace only when one sex is strong
enough to completely dominate the other. Now that we women in
Saudi Arabia are becoming educated, and are beginning to think
for ourselves, our lives will be filled with additional
discord and mayhem. Still, I welcome the battle if it means
more rights for women, for a false peace does nothing more
than further women's subjugation.
Yet,
I know that this is not the most opportune moment for
argument.
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