Because of love, Maryam wore the veils and the hijab. She tried hard. Covering up was not her thing. Maryam knew that she had to respect her husband’s culture, but she wished his family had bothered to try to make her feel welcome. They always seemed to find ways to remind her that she was an outsider. So, she stopped trying.
One day after a perceived slight, Maryam removed her husband’s flock of Ladoum rams and his cows from their home to another piece of land he owned. Then she got landscapers to turn the grounds at home into manicured gardens with rare exotic flower beds. Her husband didn’t care. But his sisters shook their heads and said that his foreign wife didn’t understand that a man’s wealth was to be on display, with his expensive animals in the compound.
Por amor, Maryam usou os véus e o hijab. Esforçou-se muito. Mas cobrir-se não era natural para ela. Maryam sabia que tinha de respeitar a cultura do marido, mas gostaria que a família dele se tivesse dado ao trabalho de a fazer sentir-se bem-vinda. Pareciam sempre encontrar formas de relembrá-la de que era uma forasteira. Então, ela parou de tentar.
Um dia, depois de um suposto insulto, Maryam transferiu o rebanho de carneiros ladoum do marido e as suas vacas, do quintal da casa para outra terra que ele possuía. Depois, contratou paisagistas para transformarem o terreno da sua casa em jardins bem cuidados com canteiros de flores exóticas raras. O marido não se importou. Mas as irmãs dele abanaram a cabeça e disseram que a sua esposa estrangeira não compreendia que a riqueza de um homem devia estar à vista de todos, com os seus animais caros no quintal.
Tradução de Déborah Cardoso Ribas.