Chapter 8.

In the morning, Mariam was given a long-sleeved, dark greendress to wear over white cotton trousers. Afsoon gave her agreen hijab and a pair of matching sandals.
She was taken to the room with the long, brown table, exceptnow there was a bowl of sugar-coated almond candy in themiddle of the table, a Koran, a green veil, and a mirror. Twomen Mariam had never seen before- witnesses, shepresumed-and a mullah she did not recognize were alreadyseated at the table.
Jalil showed her to a chair. He was wearing a light brownsuit and a red tie. His hair was washed. When he pulled outthe chair for her, he tried to smile encouragingly. Khadija andAfsoon sat on Mariam's side of the table this time.
The mullah motioned toward the veil, and Nargis arranged iton Mariam's head before taking a seat. Mariam looked downat her hands.
"You can call him in now," Jalil said to someone.
Mariam smelled him before she saw him. Cigarette smoke andthick, sweet cologne, not faint like Jalil's. The scent¹ of it floodedMariam's nostrils². Through the veil, from the corner of her eye,Mariam saw a tall man, thick-bellied and broad-shouldered,stooping in the doorway³. The size of him almost made hergasp, and she had to drop her gaze, her heart hammeringaway. She sensed him lingering in the doorway. Then his slow,heavy-footed movement across the room. The candy bowl onthe table clinked in tune⁴ with his steps. With a thick grunt⁵, hedropped on a chair beside her. He breathed noisily.
The mullah welcomed them. He said this would not be atraditional nikka"I understand that Rasheedagha has tickets for the bus toKabul that leaves shortly. So, in the interest of time, we willbypass some of the traditional steps to speed up theproceedings."The mullah gave a few blessings⁶, said a few words about theimportance of marriage. He asked Jalil if he had any objectionsto this union, and Jalil shook his head. Then the mullah askedRasheed if he indeed wished to enter into a marriage contractwith Mariam. Rasheed said, "Yes." His harsh, raspy voicereminded Mariam of the sound of dry autumn leaves crushedunderfoot.
"And do you, Mariam jan, accept this man as your husband?"Mariam stayed quiet. Throats were cleared.
"She does," a female voice said from down the table.
"Actually," the mullah said, "she herself has to answer. Andshe should wait until I ask three times. The point is, he'sseeking her, not the other way around."He asked the question two more times. When Mariam didn'tanswer, he asked it once more, this time moreforcefully- Mariam could feel Jalil beside her shifting on hisseat, could sense feet crossing and uncrossing beneath thetable. There was more throat clearing. A small, white handreached out and flicked⁷ a bit of dust off the table.
"Mariam," Jalil whispered.
"Yes," she said shakily.
A mirror was passed beneath the veil. In it, Mariam saw herown face first, the archless, unshapely eyebrows⁸, the flat hair,the eyes, mirthless green and set so closely together that onemight mistake her for being cross-eyed. Her skin was coarseand had a dull, spotty appearance. She thought her brow toowide, the chin too narrow, the lips too thin. The overallimpression was of a long face, a triangular⁹ face, a bithoundlike. And yet Mariam saw that, oddly enough, the wholeof these unmemorable parts made for a face that was notpretty but, somehow, not unpleasant to look at either.
In the mirror, Mariam had her first glimpse of Rasheed: thebig, square, ruddy face; the hooked nose; the flushed cheeksthat gave the impression of sly cheerfulness; the watery,bloodshot eyes; the crowded teeth, the front two pushedtogether like a gabled roof; the impossibly low hairline, barelytwo finger widths above the bushy eyebrows; the wall of thick,coarse, salt-and-pepper hair.
Their gazes met briefly¹⁰ in the glass and slid away.
This is the face of my husband,Mariam thought.
They exchanged the thin gold bands that Rasheed fished fromhis coat pocket. His nails were yellow-brown, like the inside ofa rotting apple, and some of the tips were curling, lifting.
Mariam's hands shook when she tried to slip the band ontohis finger, and Rasheed had to help her. Her own band was alittle tight, but Rasheed had no trouble forcing it over herknuckles.
"There," he said.
"It's a pretty ring," one of the wives said. "It's lovely, Mariam.""All that remains¹² now is the signing of the contract," themullah said.
Mariam signed her name-themeem, thereh, the 3^ andthemeem again-conscious of all the eyes on her hand. The nexttime Mariam signed her name to a document, twenty-sevenyears later, a mullah would again be present.
"You are now husband and wife," the mullah said."Tabreek.
Congratulations."* * *Rasheed waited in the multicolored bus. Mariam could not seehim from where she stood with Jalil, by the rear bumper¹³, onlythe smoke of his cigarette curling up from the open window.
Around them, hands shook and farewells were said. Koranswere kissed, passed under. Barefoot boys bounced betweentravelers, their faces invisible behind their trays of chewing gumand cigarettes.
Jalil was busy telling her that Kabul was so beautiful, theMoghul emperor Babur had asked that he be buried there.
Next, Mariam knew, he'd go on about Kabul's gardens, and itsshops, its trees, and its air, and, before long, she would be onthe bus and he would walk alongside it, waving cheerfully,unscathed, spared.
Mariam could not bring herself to allow it.
"I used to worship you," she said.
Jalil stopped in midsentence. He crossed and uncrossed hisarms. A young Hindi couple, the wife cradling a boy, thehusband dragging a suitcase, passed between them. Jalilseemed grateful for the interruption. They excused themselves,and he smiled back politely.
"On Thursdays, I sat for hours waiting for you. I worriedmyself sick that you wouldn't show up.""It's a long trip. You should eat something." He said he couldbuy her some bread and goat cheese.
"I thought about you all the time. I used to pray that you'dlive to be a hundred years old. I didn't know. I didn't knowthat you were ashamed of me."Jalil looked down, and, like an overgrown child, dug atsomething with the toe of his shoe.
"You were ashamed of me.""I'll visit you," he muttered "I'll come to Kabul and see you.
We'll-""No. No," she said. "Don't come. I won't see you. Don't youcome. I don't want to hear from you. Ever.Ever. "He gave her a wounded look.
"It ends here for you and me. Say your good-byes.""Don't leave like this," he said in a thin voice.
"You didn't even have the decency¹⁴ to give me the time to saygood-bye to Mullah Faizullah."She turned and walked around to the side of the bus. Shecould hear him following her. When she reached the hydraulicdoors, she heard him behind her.
"Mariamjo."She climbed the stairs, and though she could spot Jalil out ofthe corner of her eye walking parallel to her she did not lookout¹⁵ the window. She made her way down the aisle¹⁶ to theback, where Rasheed sat with her suitcase between his feet.
She did not turn to look when Jalil's palms pressed on theglass, when his knuckles¹¹ rapped and rapped on it. When thebus jerked forward, she did not turn to see him trottingalongside it. And when the bus pulled away, she did not lookback to see him receding¹⁷, to see him disappear in the cloud ofexhaust and dust.
Rasheed, who took up the window and middle seat, put histhick hand on hers.
"There now, girl There. There," he said. He was squinting¹⁸ outthe window as he said this, as though something moreinteresting had caught his eye.

1 scent   

n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉

参考例句：

• The air was filled with the scent of lilac.空气中弥漫着丁香花的芬芳。
• The flowers give off a heady scent at night.这些花晚上散发出醉人的芳香。

2 nostrils   

鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Her nostrils flared with anger. 她气得两个鼻孔都鼓了起来。
• The horse dilated its nostrils. 马张大鼻孔。

3 doorway   

n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径

参考例句：

• They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
• Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。

4 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

5 grunt   

v.嘟哝；作呼噜声；n.呼噜声，嘟哝

参考例句：

• He lifted the heavy suitcase with a grunt.他咕噜着把沉重的提箱拎了起来。
• I ask him what he think,but he just grunt.我问他在想什麽，他只哼了一声。

6 blessings   

n.（上帝的）祝福( blessing的名词复数 )；好事；福分；因祸得福

参考例句：

• Afflictions are sometimes blessings in disguise. 塞翁失马，焉知非福。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We don't rely on blessings from Heaven. 我们不靠老天保佑。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 flicked   

（尤指用手指或手快速地）轻击( flick的过去式和过去分词 )； （用…）轻挥； （快速地）按开关； 向…笑了一下（或瞥了一眼等）

参考例句：

• She flicked the dust off her collar. 她轻轻弹掉了衣领上的灰尘。
• I idly picked up a magazine and flicked through it. 我漫不经心地拿起一本杂志翻看着。

8 eyebrows   

眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Eyebrows stop sweat from coming down into the eyes. 眉毛挡住汗水使其不能流进眼睛。
• His eyebrows project noticeably. 他的眉毛特别突出。

9 triangular   

adj.三角（形）的，三者间的

参考例句：

• It's more or less triangular plot of land.这块地略成三角形。
• One particular triangular relationship became the model of Simone's first novel.一段特殊的三角关系成了西蒙娜第一本小说的原型。

10 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

11 knuckles   

n.（指人）指关节( knuckle的名词复数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝v.（指人）指关节( knuckle的第三人称单数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝

参考例句：

• He gripped the wheel until his knuckles whitened. 他紧紧握住方向盘，握得指关节都变白了。
• Her thin hands were twisted by swollen knuckles. 她那双纤手因肿大的指关节而变了形。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

13 bumper   

n.(汽车上的)保险杠；adj.特大的，丰盛的

参考例句：

• The painting represents the scene of a bumper harvest.这幅画描绘了丰收的景象。
• This year we have a bumper harvest in grain.今年我们谷物丰收。

14 decency   

n.体面，得体，合宜，正派，庄重

参考例句：

• His sense of decency and fair play made him refuse the offer.他的正直感和公平竞争意识使他拒绝了这一提议。
• Your behaviour is an affront to public decency.你的行为有伤风化。

15 lookout   

n.注意，前途，瞭望台

参考例句：

• You can see everything around from the lookout.从了望台上你可以看清周围的一切。
• It's a bad lookout for the company if interest rates don't come down.如果利率降不下来，公司的前景可就不妙了。

16 aisle   

n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道

参考例句：

• The aisle was crammed with people.过道上挤满了人。
• The girl ushered me along the aisle to my seat.引座小姐带领我沿着通道到我的座位上去。

17 receding   

v.逐渐远离( recede的现在分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题

参考例句：

• Desperately he struck out after the receding lights of the yacht. 游艇的灯光渐去渐远，他拼命划水追赶。 来自辞典例句
• Sounds produced by vehicles receding from us seem lower-pitched than usual. 渐渐远离我们的运载工具发出的声似乎比平常的音调低。 来自辞典例句

18 squinting   

斜视( squint的现在分词 )； 眯着眼睛； 瞟； 从小孔或缝隙里看

参考例句：

• "More company," he said, squinting in the sun. "那边来人了，"他在阳光中眨巴着眼睛说。
• Squinting against the morning sun, Faulcon examined the boy carefully. 对着早晨的太阳斜起眼睛，富尔康仔细地打量着那个年轻人。