Hashmat
Bibi left numerous sealed envelopes with detailed instructions at the
establishments of the community’s leading suppliers of goods and services. On
certain days, at a specified hour, the chosen washerwoman, tailor, cobbler, and
numerous vendors would present themselves in the home. They would use code
whistles and the dumbwaiter would descend with written instructions. The
Shakil ladies managed to practically disappear from the world entirely. They
managed to pay for all these goods and services by pawning the items that were
left in the house.
There
was also the question of who was pregnant? You never knew who was really
pregnant because all three sisters pretended to be at the same time. When one
would get morning sickness, the other two would also start vomiting. They grew
their bellies and breasts to resemble each other with pads and pillows. They
slept in the same room, endured the same cravings, they weighed the same, felt
tired at the same time, felt the same pains. When the birth happened, no one
from the outside witnessed it.
The
three sisters raise Omar together and keep him isolated from the outside world
as well. They instill in his brilliant mind a strange feeling of being
peripheral and inverted. In exchange for being allowed to attend school, Omar
is ordered never to feel shame or sharam
in Arabic. Because of this, Omar becomes sexist as well as voyeuristic in his
relations with females.
(Edited by Noelia Valero)
