TE16 Turkish Delight

Karin Karakaşlı said, come on mom, we have no business staying in this heretic’s house. And you just took off after him…” Sırhupi exhaled deeply, like a balloon deflating. “You couldn’t tell him that this was your home too, Mukaddes.” Mukaddes flushed. The shame of that cursed day took hold of her conscience once more. Unknowingly she tugged on the collar of her sweater. “I don’t know how I can take it back, Sırhupi. If it gives you any relief at all, I told my son later what he had coming even if I couldn’t at that moment. That’s why I couldn’t go on staying at his house, but I know I’m also late to make amends to you. I just didn’t know how to go about doing it. I wasn’t brought up to be good at this sort of talk. I didn’t know what I could do…” Sırhupi looked up and glared straight into her friend’s eyes. She didn’t say a word, but Mukaddes heard everything those eyes said to her clear as day: “Then how did I know to silence my own grandchild? And he wasn’t even saying a word. He was merely defending himself and me against an offender. How could I have known that one day I’d have to defend myself against one of your blood? Up until then, there was no such thing as you and me. We shared past memories and present moments. Then your son spoke, you kept silent, andwe no longer had anything in common except the meaning of our names. Sırhupi and Mukaddes, the twowords indifferent languageswhose shared meaning everyone had thought the secret to our friendship, our sisterhood…only that was left as a distant memory, and nothing else.” Mukaddes didn’t take her gaze away from those eyes. She couldn’t

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