45
the scarecrow
She spoke calmly, almost
coldly. She addressed him
with the composure that has
always been the hallmark
of the brave. “He was a
wayfarer!”
“What are you saying?”
“He came as a wayfarer.
So I offered him the only
hospitality a woman can offer
a man.”
“What are you saying?”
“I told myself that the
transient paradise belongs
to the transient, as the Law
has taught us, and that the
paradise of the male transient
is a woman.”
“Are you lying?”
“I offered him a treasure that
has always been man’s safe
deposit with woman!”
“If only I had lost my sense of
hearing and not my sight so
I wouldn’t be hearing what I
am now!”
“Don’t think I acted this way
to satisfy some caprice or
in response to the desire of
a woman whose husband is
away. I did it as retribution!”
“Did you say ‘retribution’?”
“Yes. Absolutely. A woman
does not lie in the same
bedchamberwithanotherman
unless she is plotting some
revenge. Don’t believe what is
said about the phenomenon
of flirtatious women.”
“What revenge are you
discussing?”
She shot him a spiteful glance.
Looks like this escape a woman
unintentionally and glow like
sparks from a flint, but are
immediately extinguished
when the woman regains her
self-control. She deleted the
spiteful look and replaced it