“Yes, I saw him, in the kitchen, looking at his feet. And this one?” she said, looking at Heather. “This puttana could not be raped.”

Rafik made no objection. Heather was frozen in a posture of dignity, even though her left breast was beautifully exposed. Kamal was fingering his lip.

“More noise—I call police. Off to Pakistan for good.”

Algeria was Pakistan was India to her. She turned her shoulders like a general and was gone.

“Rafik,” wailed Heather.

Kamal knew he had little time. He got himself up from the floor. Grabbing the roll of paper towels on the kitchen floor, he was out the front door before Rafik had his arms around Heather and was saying, “My baby, my baby.” The others backed away, making no move to help Aziz. They knew he had not tried to rape Heather. Heather and Kamal had been at each other for weeks. Rafik was the only one who didn’t know—and Aziz.

There was the phone, still off the hook in the kitchen.

One of them hung it up.

Chapter 5

5

Aziz came to and saw he was in a hospital. He tried to move, but he was tethered by tubes in his arm and his nose. A buzzer sounded: a loud one, he thought. He looked around and saw he was alone, surrounded by a curtain. Then someone pulled it back.

“Mr. Ricco?”

He stared.

“Xavier Ricco? Xavier Ricco?”

He kept staring.

“Do you know who you are?” The nurse had made the buzzer stop and was checking his arm and his nose.

“Xavier Ricco,” he mimicked, hoping she had asked him his name and had been telling him his name. Her expressions were exaggerated, as if she were talking to a baby.

“Oh, good. Your speech is a little slurred, but that’s expected. And you know where you are?”

He decided now would be a good time to appear to fall back asleep.

He put his head back on the pillow and closed his eyes.

“That’s good, you rest now. I’ll call your wife and your sister and tell them you’ve regained consciousness. They’ll be so relieved.”

Aziz understood nothing. His head was bandaged. His cheek was covered too, and when he touched the gauze it was tender. With alarm he discovered there was a tube up his penis.

His feet. Where were his feet? He pulled one up. It had been put in a new dressing and covered in blue fabric. He tried to wiggle his toes. He stopped abruptly. The skin was gone. He could tell, he had no skin. They were numbed too, his feet. He could feel them; he was moving them, but not very well. He felt sickened and had to force himself not to call out. Why did his feet have no skin? Suddenly his head was aching. He was sweating. Another buzzer went off.

A nurse came in. Then another.

“His heart rate.”