Chapter FiveDuring these days in which events mocked Zainab remorselessly, Hassan’s family calmly pursued their ordinary lives, accepting the affair as it stood. When the subject of his son’s marriage arose, Ammi Khalil would respond with an easy heart: ‘Inshallah, when we sell the cotton, God will see to it.’ Then he would be silent or turn the conversation to other matters while Hassan respectfully bowed his head.
Hassan’s father was a dignified man with white hair and a long chin reaching to his chest which was also adorned with white hairs. He wore his turban over a white skullcap made for him by his daughter and this fitted loosely over his forehead upon which the long years had etched innumerable furrows and wrinkles. His blond eyebrows, having all but lost any trace of their origin
