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— 24 — At four o’clock in the afternoon on August 7, 1953, Munis was standing on the roof of the house watching the street below. She had not slept a wink for exactly fifty-six hours. Amir Khan had forbidden her to leave the house. From the roof she watched the street thick with crowds that seemed to be running back and forth, as if chasing each other. Then a convoy of trucks packed with people went by, followed by a procession of tanks. The sound of machine-gun fire could be heard from a distance. Munis was thinking obsessively that for as long as she could remember she had looked at the garden through the window convinced that virginity was a delicate, vulMunis Part One: Death WWoM_v4.5.indd 24 11/3/11 1:51 PM — 25 — nerable membrane. At the age of eight she had been told that God would not forgive a girl who lost her virginity in any way. Now, a couple of days ago she had learned that virginity was not a curtain but an orifice. Something had broken inside her and a cold rage penetrated her body. She thought of her childhood days when she had longingly looked at hedges and trees, hoping for a time in her life when she could freely climb them without compromising her virginity. Her knees felt like ice. “I’ll take my revenge,” she told herself. A man turned into the alley on the side of the house. He moved unsteadily with his hand pressing on his belly. He came a few steps into the alley and fell in the ditch head first. From where she was Munis could not see his face but his feet were sticking out of the ditch. Munis closed her eyes and leaned forward. Within five seconds she was plastered on the pavement below, face up, eyes open, staring at the blue of the sky. WWoM_v4.5.indd 25 11/3/11 1:51 PM ...

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