Test-&-mend. Juanna Artmane

But this was explicable by the fact that she was rarely allowed out into the society. Actually, this type of women was seen as a role model of “a good wife”. The thing, that made her a paragon, was her unawareness of the outer world. If she were left in another part of the street, she would not be able to find her way home. Her world confided to the boundaries of the place she resided; and coming out felt like leaving the planet Earth and travelling to the Moon.

      The vast majority of women were of this very type. Locals even invented a separate notion for them – “domestic wives”. These domesticated creatures had “masters” – their husbands. It goes without saying, that “domestic wives” were tamed to the whims of their masters. This inhuman process took years of training, though it did not devoid women of the wish to escape from their Master and to worship the latter. They kept praying God “to never leave them without an owner”. A man used to pride himself on having such a wife. Hannah, listening to all those stories, was aghast and ready to die not to fall victim of another massacre. These rebellious thoughts vividly expressed themselves in a tension on her picture-like face. The change was so obvious, that Hannah wished them all gone.

      As if in answer to her prays, after a while, the weather changed rapidly: a cloudless day turned into a boisterous wind, promising a heavy rain to downpour. Seeing the change in the mood of the day, neighbors and relatives hurried to retire to their respective homes. Leila – as well as Hannah – were left alone to adjust themselves to a new way of existence.

      That evening Hannah was apprehensive of her mother’s gloomy mood. She was accustomed to the scenes when her mother gave way to her feelings, while Abdul was not at home. Now Leila stood at the windowsill of the aynabend and looked at the yard, which was slowly turning into a mush of mud under the fierce power of rioting sky. Much to Hannah’s surprise, her mother was in a calm state. The most unusual behavior for Leila was to remain tranquil. Sometimes she went so violent that she could turn to beating herself, so now it seemed odd that she did not act up. Hannah was apprehensively waiting for something worse to come soon; she fixed her gaze at her mother, trying to predict her actions. Recalling the last scene that Leila made, Hannah recoiled in horror. Leila used to lie down on the floor in the aynabend, beating her head against the floor violently, shouting grievously, weeping bitterly. As the room was all windows, every hit caused glasses shake, doubling the dramatic effect of the pathetic actions. It was a gruesome scene to be exposed to. Hannah loathed, detested, abhorred such emotional explosions – yet, there was nothing she could do about them. She would go to her bedroom, adjacent to the aynabend and through its windows looked at her mother who, like a wild wounded animal, was writhing, roaring on the floor in fits of delirium and attacks of panic. Observing it from another room was much safer for Hannah than in close vicinity. At those moments, the window turned into a psychological frame, separating Hannah from the world of insanity, in which she lived but refused to believe with all her heart: “NO! NO-NO!.. IT ISN’T REAL… IT CAN’T BE HAPPENING… NOPE”.

      Chapter 6:

      Within the years of absence (2003–2006)

      Since Ali’s departure, changes started taking place rapidly. Not only did they occur within the family bounds, but the whole city of “N” stepped into a new phase of its development.

      Year 2003 turned out to be the most determining in the political system. The fifth presidential election was to be held in the fall. Due care was taken not to allow any real opposition to put forward their candidacy against the son of the Leader, who was supposed to “democratically inherit” the position. There was only one group of real oppositionists, which consisted of religious bigots, ready to seize power and force the city into a Religious state. This group found support with the bulk of voters, who had fundamental religious education. By “science” they acknowledged information given by the Prophet in the “Sacred book” many-many centuries ago. Seemingly united by law of letter, the group was divided into numerous branches, which did not stay in perfect harmony, but waged constant wars in between. Still there were fears that if they had a chance to nominate their Leader for the upcoming election, they could win. In this case, the country would be found in a deplorable condition: these, obsessed by verses of the “Sacred Book”, people would not hesitate to spill blood to meet their ends.

      To somehow avoid unnecessary victims, the government was to adhere to “certain” rules. For this 46

      sake, they introduced a few “puppets”, labelled as “presidential contenders”. This elimination of real opposition could be seen as an outrageous demolishment of democracy. Yet, one should not rush to a conclusion and judge these undemocratic procedures severely. For westerners, or as they are periphrastically called “people from developed countries”, this particular way of election might seem unfair and cruel. Their outlook stems from a rather romantic point of view on freedom and individual choice. Many ideas, supported in western culture, pose a real danger for the eastern one, as people themselves are not ready for such a diversity. The unpleasant imprint of the oppressive regime of the Evil Empire, which lasted for decades, still firmly stayed in the DNA of the citizens. Taking into consideration the fact that this very country had been deprived of independence for almost 70 years and had been guided by appointed Leaders, the very notion of “taking reasonable decisions” was eradicated from their minds. Their blocked consciousness got used to be told what, when and in which way should be done. Yet after the downfall of the Evil Empire, there were futile attempts to create a democratic state – at least theoretically; at least – on paper. Be that as it may, we shall not condemn those, who could not make right choices shortly after. No way! If one is given options in an oblivious state of mind, it is hardly called “freedom”, but “a straight way to failure”.

      To give the devil his due, the would-be president – the son of the current Leader – was a well-educated man, who ardently supported the western ideas of liberty. Having a Ph. D. in history, he fully understood of the roots of the underlying problem. This knowledge deterred him from thrusting freedom upon his nation all at once. Struggling with the stated dilemma, he developed a private scheme of gradual introduction of the concept under consideration: first – the integration with the idea of freedom, then – step-by-step immersion into a free way of life. Only under the condition of the aforementioned points’ successful implementation, freedom (in its western sense) could be attained.

      Despite the devised plan, the newly elected President could hardly bring it into life. The previous Leader had already carefully adjusted each detail in the System in such a way, that it would work smoothly for many years to come. It did not really matter and could not make any difference as to who the next President was – his son or anyone else. Whoever took “the steering of the Machine”, he had no other choice but to follow the instruction, left by the previous “driver”. Otherwise, he would run the risk of crushing and killing himself, but not the perfectly built structure, each detail of which was thoroughly picked and installed. The man was wise enough to assign authorizations only to those, who were of the same breed. These people were supporters of his Regime; and they would not tolerate “outsiders”. So, being born with a political spoon in his mouth, the son of the former Leader happened to play the most appropriate candidate to presidency.

      The predictable outcome of the upcoming election made common people weary to come and vote: “Why bother?”. After all, they knew very well, that the son of the former President would inherit the position.

      Yet, the election campaign, officially launched in October 2003, did not run smoothly. Those religious tribes, whose Leader was excluded from the democratic process, came out into the streets, and for a good reason, were bitten by the police troops. This mistreatment of “common people” attracted the attention of Human Rights’ Watch and they managed to document the violence towards journalists and opposition.

      Fortunately for some and unfortunately for others, this “violation of human rights” was soon hushed up with a remarkable generous gesture. As it was already mentioned, the new President was an expert on history, which significantly helped him to rule out from such awkward situations. While he was brooding over the ways of resolution of these minor unpleasantries, concerning the Human Rights’ Watch, the words of an ancient ruler – Alexander Makedonskiy – flashed in his mind: “A loophole to let a gold laden donkey can be found even in the most protected fortresses.”