Chapter 9

Quassim and another man are riding around in a 4x4. The one guy's mother just died and he doens't even care. He was like the sixth child of a lot so he didn't have much of a connection with her. He started taking care of himself and working when he was about twelve. The other guy told him that they could have stayed in town another night, but he wasn't interested. They see Nazeesh in the mountains at some point in their trip and Mohsen at the graveyard. They continue their conversation about their wives and they seem even worse than Atiq and Mohsen. It sounds like they treat their wives like property because he talkes about how his first couple were disobedient and unenergetic. They eventually go to Khorsan's to eat and see Atiq there. Atiq tries to avoid them, but it doesn't work. Quassim asks him if he needs money or anything because he seems depressed. Atiq says that he is fine, but Quassim tells him the story of a man who didn't know himself. He said that one day someone wispered something in his ear and he got up and was never seen again. I don't think this quite applies to Atiq. In a sense it does because I don't think Atiq found what makes him happy yet, but I don't think it's because he doesn't know himself. If nothing else, I think he will find what makes him happy, and then maybe he'll leave. When Atiq goes home that night, he finds Mussurat lying in the middle of the floor and thinks she's dead. Instead of helping her though, he just stands there and stares at her. I don't think he knows what to do because he has practically prayed for this day, but I don't think he ever thought it would actually happen.