They laughed for a long time over my grandmother’s wedding night and the wedding night of every one of them. They laughed until they had tears in their eyes. As for me, I was very sad, and until today whenever a woman is married off to a man, I remember my grandmother’s story and feel sad.
She was seventeen—skinny and bashful—and she knew her husband. Her marriage contract had been drawn up previously during the engagement period, and her fiancé had paved the way with a few kisses and stolen caresses. All of that didn’t assuage her fears, though. Laughing, she told the women she would use the pretext of having to go to the bathroom and needing to pee whenever she was unable to bear the pain of the first penetration. The women nodded their heads in agreement and solidarity, and kept saying
