The way to get my daughter’s fiancé back to Baku was widely understood, and everyone around us used it, but the traditions maintained in old Azeri families like those of the bride and bridegroom would not permit the use of bribes.
“What are we going to do?” asked Eldar, as soon as we had stationed ourselves round the table in the large room in which my two grandfathers gazed down at us from the walls: my maternal grandfather was a well known lawyer, and my father’s father was a regional municipal council official, with a moustache that drooped down dejectedly on to his chin at both sides.
“To be quite honest, I don’t get it at all,” said Marat. “Why has everything suddenly been turned against Alik? They could have accused any one of us, and especially Lucky as he struck the first blow.”
