A House Without Windows by Nadia Hashimi Page A

fevers?”
    â€œShe’s much better, thanks. She went back yesterday, which means I could be here to watch over you instead of her. How lucky am I?”
    The mood was light, until the guard asked her next question.
    â€œNafisa, are you ready for tomorrow?”
    Nafisa took a deep breath in and started to squirm on the floor. Mezhgan put a hand on her cellmate’s knee.
    â€œYou’ll be fine,” she reassured.
    â€œIt’s stupid,” Latifa declared.
    â€œIf you’ve got nothing to hide, this can help you,” the guard said gently.
    Latifa noticed the look of confusion on Zeba’s face.
    â€œThis little girl is going to get examined tomorrow,” Latifa sang out, with the theatrics of a radio announcer. “A very wise and all-knowing doctor’s going to tell the world if she’s a virgin or not. That’s what everyone really wants to know. Did she or didn’t she? Is she still a girl or is she a harlot? Has she stripped her father of his honor?”
    Nafisa’s face turned a deep shade of red.
    â€œShut up, Latifa!” she hissed.
    Latifa continued, unfazed.
    â€œLet me prepare you a bit since no one else will. You’ll have to take your underpants off and lift your skirt. The doctor’s going to use a flashlight to look at every hole in your body to see if a man’s been near it. Oh, yes, your backside is part of the exam. But the front is the main story. He’ll poke around looking to make sure your woman part still has its modesty veil. If you don’t have that little veil they’re looking for, you’re in big trouble. If you’ve ever fallen from a window or out of a tree, better mention it before they’ve got your legs open for a look. That’s the only hope you’ve got to explain what they might findin a way that doesn’t condemn you to this place for another decade. Did you fall out of a tree? Think hard, my friend. Surely, you must have fallen from a tree at some point in your life.”
    Mezhgan clucked her tongue sympathetically.
    â€œEnough, Latifa! You think everything’s a joke. She’s going to be humiliated enough tomorrow as it is. You don’t have to make it worse.”
    â€œI’m only trying to prepare her. Look at the poor girl’s face. Haven’t you noticed that she’s barely eaten or slept in the last couple of days? She’s a bag of nerves. Not everyone would be as prepared as you to have a man sticking his fingers between her legs.”
    Mezhgan grabbed her hairbrush and threw it at Latifa’s head. She ducked just in time. Mezhgan stood and looked as if she might storm out of the cell. She made it to the doorway, where she paused, arms folded across her chest. The guard smiled in amusement.
    â€œI hope her lawyer is better than mine,” Latifa said, sighing. “The one assigned to me told me I should be ashamed for leaving my family. He told the judge as much at my hearing and then asked him to have pity on me because I seemed to be repentant—what a defense! There’s a woman in here that got examined and the doctor reported that she had been having sex at least once a week with two different men.”
    â€œThey can tell that from looking at her there?” Nafisa, a lilt of surprise in her voice.
    â€œI’m not a doctor. Maybe the men left their voting cards inside her. Damned if I know.”
    Nafisa was too nervous to find this amusing.
    â€œWhat did your test show?” Nafisa asked. In the weeks they’d spent together in the cell, Latifa had never spoken about her exam. She’d not even mentioned that she’d endured one.
    â€œMy test? Are you as stupid as they are?” Latifa huffed. “You don’t have to ask the flesh between my legs if I’ve ever had sex with a man. You can just ask me and I’ll tell you I haven’t, even if the men in my family don’t believe it. My brother swore