Man of Satin

When he learned to go to the toilet, the women of the building became his spectacle. They would stroke his curly hair, feed him lemon wedges, or invite him to eat cups of muhallabia or rice pudding in their living rooms. "The women want love to be admired for their pregnancy cravings. They dressed him in a traditional dress, a kind of amulet." "It's a blessing, Ayoush. May God protect you, women with eyes like sharp swords. One woman whispers to another, 'She speaks with her mouth open, as if in surprise. She only took off her black clothes after her husband's murder. She threw away all his clothes on a dark night. She told her she wouldn't be a grieving widow. Love follows her.'" She wears short-sleeved dresses that accentuate her figure, untouched by the demands of pregnancy and breastfeeding. They said Nabil inherited his beauty from his mother, whom they had never seen but had heard of. – The women in the text see her as beautiful. Another corrects her in a whisper: – My mother is Jewish. She places a finger on her fingers, wanting to swallow the words she wants to say by mistake.