for god’s sake…” She realised too late that the last words should not have been spoken. Sargel immediately went after them and yelped in a thin voice: “Why for god’s sake?” Malika, not finding worthy words, pathetically answered: “They’ve been sitting alone for a long time…” “What’s the point in saying for god’s sake?” “Sar, for god’s sake, go to the children,” Malika repeated softly, never taking her eyes off the portrait of Bagila. “Go on… you keep forgetting that pettiness wears out the nerves and ages a person prematurely.” Old age… It was a blow to the most fragile place. It had nothing to do with him yet, but Sargel was terribly furious when he heard the words “ages” from the lips of his wife, as if he was some “old man.” What Malika had said left him speechless and drove back down the words he was about to splash on his wife’s head. He left, raising his head high, stepping as importantly as a crane. Once he reached the kitchen threshold he turned around and said, shaking his chin: “This daub better be gone before I wake up tomorrow!” And slammed the door. The imperious voice of her husband, who firmly believed in his power, the impudent slamming of the door brought Malika to her limit. She stood for a while, mastering herself, then resolutely followed her husband. Sargel, who did not expect such courage from his wife, looked at her with dazed eyes. “Sar,” Malik said clearly, determined to keep herself under control at all costs. “You know, I don’t allow myself to argue with you in front of the children, but now I have to put you in your place, because everyone heard how you yelled at me. Okay, I’m not going to burst like a soap bubble because of this. But remember, you shouldn’t interfere in Bagila’s personal affairs. She is not your daughter. In addition, she did not ask the artist to draw this portrait. So I’m not going to carry out your ‘order!’ Got it! I understand that you can’t bear to hear such words, but you’ve got no other choice this time.” Sargel put down the knife with which he had cut the children’s pie with frightening slowness, timidly, without taking his eyes off Malika’s face, he stood up and straightened up as heavily as if he had a heavy load on

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153