Salt Houses Quotes
"When Salma peers into her daughter’s coffee cup, she knows instantly she must lie."
"It was the tray that gave Salma pause, the triangular pattern so similar to the one her own mother gave her when she first wed."
"Over the years she has presented the tray in the same arrangement, the ibrik in the center, the cups, petal-like, encircling it."
"Salma prefers to wait ten minutes but often becomes occupied with her guests, only to remember much later with a hasty 'Oh!'"
"The cups, however, are well worn. Hundreds of times, Salma has placed a saucer over the rim and flipped the cup upside down."
"The first light of the day would slowly fill their bedroom. Salma spoke directly to God during those minutes, in a manner that felt shameless to her."
"More than once he cried out into the night, 'They took my home, they took my lungs. Kill me, kill me.'"
"The elders watch the cup reading calmly. They’ve seen their mothers do this and their mothers’ mothers."
"Salma, to Hussam’s surprise, chose Ghazi. At the time, the logic of her verdict was nebulous to her, half-formed."
"Only with Salma did she cry, tears falling as she sat in the garden, her body hunched over the steam from her teacup."
"It isn’t that Alia is her favorite child. All her children are prized; they are the glow of her."
"Alia was distinct as a child, unlike Widad with her gentle dolor or Mustafa who went from a colicky baby to a prickly child."
"But Salma was cheered when her daughter mentioned Jaffa. She felt grateful."
"In the center of the thumbprint is a whirling form. Flight."
"Salma sees her daughter’s fear, the disquiet the girl cannot say."
"Lucky to have these walls and lucky—it feels tawdry to speak of this to Allah but unavoidable—to have money."
"She spent the first years in Nablus daydreaming of returning. The early days of summer, the vision of the house rising as the road coiled around the cliff."
"The garden is completely hers. The former occupants had tiled over the land, turning it into a marbled courtyard."
"Afterward, the three women waited outside the courtroom. Umm Atef’s lips began to move, her eyes unblinking. Praying."
"Dusk had already fallen when Mustafa knelt on the floor beside her. He cradled her feet in his hands, bent and kissed them on the soles as he wept."
"We are blessed to have this gift of seeing. Allah willed it and we must not misuse it."
"The past two weeks have been scavenging, Mustafa pulling together meals of bread and olive oil, at times boiling a lamb chop."
"The men gesture. Their hands blur in the dark. Smoke from the cigarettes hovers above them."
"They thrived on the debates, the ideological sparring that seemed to stretch their brains, limber them up for the inevitable."
"Alia keeps her eyes on the small window directly in front of the shower. Beyond it, several inches of Kuwait City are visible."
"But these visits were stuffy, the women speaking of silverware prices and the latest heat wave."
"By the time they finally got home, Widad would be cheered, talking a little more and laughing, but Alia would feel drained."
"He tried to recall the ingredients. Cream—a dusty can in the pantry—and oil and salt. There was a fourth ingredient, he knows, but he cannot remember what it was."
"In those early weeks, none of them could mention Mustafa's name without Atef weeping."
"The boy tried to punch the soldier and was beaten. The father screamed. After a while, there was nothing for them to do but turn away, cry at the sister’s naked body, the soldier against her."
"It wasn’t that Widad was unpleasant or spiteful. But she was so droopy."
"One afternoon Alia watched, exasperated, as Widad spent nearly two hours organizing the pantry."
""I hate it here," she’d whisper like a hostage."
"Alia’s return to Nablus was planned for the first Tuesday in June."
"Now that she was about to leave, everything—her sister, Ghazi, their cavernous villa—was cast in a kinder light."
""Why not? Maybe for another month," Alia agreed and was surprised to find that she meant it."
"It was, to Alia, the most wonderful, exotic place she’d ever been."
""You have a fine collarbone," Umm Omar said when Alia emerged from the dressing room."
""The Israelis! They’ve done it. They’ve snuck up on our boys. They’re in Sinai.""
""Not yet! But we’re prepared, you can bet on that! Palestine, Jordan, Iraq. We’ve been waiting for this.""
"Alia watched in a daze as Umm Omar wrapped the silk in brown paper."
"For several moments, she was stunned by heat, brightness, bewilderment."
""We’ll invite the Shafics and Mourads and Qiblawis," she told Atef."
"Their straggly, moping foursome; this awful country; pretending to be happy over saccharine cake—it was something to mourn over."
"Better to have voices and laughter, colorful dresses and flashy jewelry, a clatter to conceal the emptiness."
""Good morning," Alia says. Widad has removed her veil, and sunlight from the kitchen windows falls around her, bringing out the amber in her hair."
""No, it’s fine," says Alia, joining her at the table."
""Maybe later," Alia scorches the old one the first week here; even after the ibrik had been scrubbed and soaked in salt, the bottom remained charred."
""Hello," Alia says to them, and they return the greeting."
""Which dress are you wearing tonight?" Widad asks."
""The black one," Alia captures the tinkling of a news station’s melody."
""Oum Kalthoum." This song is one of the Naksa songs that have cropped up in recent months."
"Both sisters make a sound at the same instant, a grunt of frustration."
""Turn it off. For the love of Allah," Widad says."
"Alia laughs, surprised. She adopts the droning voice of the newscasters and politicians."
""Brothers, sisters. This is a period of mourning. Wear your black. Tell your children to grieve.""
""The meat needs another hour or so." Widad squints at the clock above her head."
""That should give us plenty of time to add the vegetables.""
""Do you have everything you need?" she asks them now in English."
""They’re good people. I’m so happy Atef’s meeting people at the university.""
""Yes." Alia stops, not wanting to be disloyal."
""It’ll take time," Widad says. "For both of you.""
"Alia watched the war on the television in Widad and Ghazi’s living room."
"Widad busied herself during the news reports."
"Ghazi seemed excited by the war; there was an edge to his thrill, almost a satisfaction."
"Fury rose in Alia’s throat each time Ghazi spoke."
""It’s gone. Palestine is gone. The fools. They saved nothing," Ghazi said."
"Alia enters the kitchen to find Widad seated at the table."
""Good morning," Alia says. Widad has removed her veil."
""I came early. I hope you don’t mind. There’s so much to do.""
"Everything I ate, for days, I couldn’t keep down."
"Only with Souad did everything change, that screaming, selfish child."
"I never forgave her," Alia says slowly. "But I also never thanked her."
"Everything we did was like that. Slow, careful."
"For weeks, we touched each other's faces, trying to make sure we hadn't dreamed it."
"You’re just jealous! Because you’re stuck in your little life, you want everyone as miserable as you!"
"Where yelling and bargaining had failed, tears worked."
"Suddenly she wishes the girl would stop talking, would leave her alone."
"The truth is these girls aren’t just bobbing their hair and wearing skirts. They’re giving themselves up."
"The last thing that child needs is caffeine."
"What does any of it mean, when you are a body, a body you suddenly love, a body that is tumbling through the air?"
"We’re addicted to American television, that’s true, but I don’t think it’s a crime."
"The people who are going to save us, they aren’t those spineless politicians. It’s the men inside the mosques."
"You can’t just enter a child’s life and pretend you’re his mother."
"It’s like I can still hear them. I think of them all the time, Aboudi."
"Prayer is as good as bread, as simple as the dirt she turns over for seedlings."
"We’re all a mess. Iraq’s a mess, Lebanon’s a mess, don’t even get me started on Palestine."
"What frightens me is the secrets children keep."
"You’re not Lebanese," as plainly as though he were stating the sun was hot.
"Motherhood doesn’t suit me, I don’t have the stomach for not knowing what comes next."
"I thought wistfully of the bracing anger I’d felt earlier."
"That night, when she saw too late her mistake, all those moments that make love and destroy it."
"The house, Elie’s graduation and teaching job, their move to America."
"Summers are supposed to be about swimming at the beach, spending nights bowling and going out to dinner, staying up playing video games."
"We’re worried about Teta, trying to distract ourselves."
"I hated the movie. It was outrageously dull."
"We’re sitting here, worried about Teta, trying to distract ourselves."
"You guys are always making a big deal out of nothing!"
"Everyone’s saying unnecessary things. Unkind things."
"It means she needs help and she’s going to keep forgetting things."