The Pearl That Broke Its Shell

Rahima continues living as a bacha posh even after she hits puberty and starts her menstrual cycle. Raisa is reluctant to lose her “son” who does things for the family that Arif will not. One day, while playing martial arts games with Abdullah and Ashraf. Rahima had been gradually growing closer to Abdullah. When they practiced taekwondo, she “tingled to be that close to him” and “felt dangerous and alive” (86). Raisa discovers them grappling in this way. She sees “her daughter pinned under a boy in the middle of the street. Few sights could have been more shameful” (87). Rahima stays out late at her part time job. When she returns, she finds that the family did not save her any food. Angry, she confronts Raisa. Arif hears. Furious that she did not save his “son” any meat, he beats Raisa.

That night, Rahima thinks of Shekiba. Comparing herself to her ancestor makes her feel ashamed. 

Shekiba becomes obsessed with the deed to her father’s land. She determines that it must be hidden in her father’s Qur’an. Ismail taught Shekiba and her siblings to read using that Qur’an. She plots to contrive a reason to leave Azizullah’s house.