8
Desertion
Zahra’s new acquaintance and fellow traveller Leila launched into her life story. She was going to live with her son and his family in Sydney, and did Zahra know that it took over twenty hours to get there? Zahra was taken aback; up to this point she had been too distracted to think about the actual journey. Leila produced photographs of her family: a smiling couple at a beach, in a park, near the Sydney Opera House …
Zahra only half listened as the other woman told her about her husband’s early death.
‘I blame the regime,’ Leila said, dabbing her eyes. ‘My husband had a heart attack after he lost his job in a government department. They harassed him, insisted that he pray five times a day at work. They said he should retire and move over for younger people who were more co
