Shekure shut herself into the room with the children, and I liste length to the sounds within the house and to its incessant creaking. Shekure and Shevket began whispering to each other and she anxiously quieted them with an abrupt 「shush!」 I heard a rattling ing from the stone-paved area he well, but it didn』t last. Later, my attention was caught by a squawking seagull that had alighted on the roof. Then it, too, fell silent along with everything else. Afterward, I heard a low moan from the other side of the hallway: Hayriye was g in her sleep. Her moans dissolved into coughing whided as suddenly as it had begun, giving way once again to that deep, dreadful silence. A while later, I imagihat an intruder was roaming around the room where my dead Enishte lay, and I froze
pletely.
During each span of silence, I examihe pictures before me, plating how the passionate Olive, the beautiful Butterfly and the deceased gilder had dabbed paint onto the page. I had the urge to front each of the images by shouting 「Satan!」 or 「Death!」 as my Enishte used to do some nights, but fear restrained me. Besides, these illustrations had vexed me plenty because I couldn』t write an appropriate story to apany them despite my Enishte』s insistence. Since I was slowly growiain that his death was lio these images, I felt fretful and impatient. I』d already scrutihe illustrations endlessly while listening to Enishte』s stories, all for a ce to be near Shekure. Now that she was my lawfully wedded wife, why should I preoccupy myself with them? A merciless inner voiswered: 「Because even after her children have fallen asleep, Shekure refuses to leave her bed and join you.」 I waited for a long while gazing at the pictures by dlelight, hoping that my black-eyed beauty would e to me.
In the m, stirred from my sleep by Hayriye』s shrieks, I grabbed the dle-holder and rushed into the hallway. I thought Hasan had raided the house with his men, and I sidered hiding the illustrations, but quickly realized that Hayriye had begun screaming upon Shekure』s and, as a way to announishte Effendi』s death to the children and neighbors.
When I met Shekure in the hall, we embraced fondly. The children, who』d leapt out of bed when they』d heard Hayriye』s shouts, stood motionless.
「Yrandfather has died,」 Shekure said to them. 「I don』t want you to ehat room anymore under any circumstances.」
She freed herself from my arms and, going to her father』s side, began to weep.
I herded the children bato their room. 「ge out of your bedclothes, you』ll catch cold,」 I said and sat on the edge of the bed.
「Grandfather didn』t die this m. He died last night,」 Shevket said.
A long loose strand of Shekure』s geous hair had coiled into an Arabic script 「vav」 on her pillow. Her warmth hadn』t yet dissipated from beh the quilt. We could hear her sobbing and wailing along with Hayriye. Her ability to shriek as though her father had actually died uedly was so shogly disingenuous that I felt as if I didn』t know Shekure at all, like she』d been possessed by a strange jinn.
「I』m frightened,」 said Orhan with a glahat was also a request for permission to cry.
「Don』t be afraid,」 I said. 「Your mother is g so the neighbors will know of yrandfather』s death and pay their respects.」
「What difference does it make if they e?」 Shevket asked.
「If they e, they』ll be sad and mourn with us over his death. That way we share the burden of our pain.」
「D