7

Samia did not know that her husband Mustapha could not stand her, and had married her only to please his mother. He felt that sleeping in the same bed as her was a suicide mission, and every morning a celebration for having been saved from a horrible death. She attributed his keeping away from her for several weeks to his being shy, and decided to help him get rid of his shyness. Her help began as they sat on sofas facing each other. She closed her eyes, thinking what she was doing was so seductive that no man would be able to resist. To Mustapha she appeared dead, and he almost got up to call a doctor. Samia then lazily opened her eyes and gave him looks she thought were seething with desire and would set any man on fire. But Mustapha was surprised by these glances and got ready to defend himself, thinking she was about to hit or maybe kick him.

With deliberate movements, Samia then lifted her dress and exposed her knees, expecting Mustapha to forget his shyness and come towards her crawling and pleading. She touched her flesh with drunken fingers, but to Mustapha these fingers seemed to imitate the walk of a crab or a scorpion. He asked anxiously if there were bedbugs or ants in the house, but she ignored his question, stood up, and in a loud voice complained about the extreme heat. She was about to take off her clothes when Mustapha rushed to turn on all the fans in the house, but Samia did not feel cold at all and took her clothes off anyway. Mustapha ignored her nakedness and gazed inquisitively at her clothes. Samia felt happy, then angry, and asked him what he was doing. He said he was trying to guess the price of each item of clothing, and hoped he was not wrong.