Shahla always has a ritual. She has her own system and has to do everything her way in order to get to where she wants. I am trying to figure out her new routine. She always follows her rules. Maman says, “Even as a little girl, she had her very own plate, and when she played house there were so many regulations that the other kids got tired, and she was forced to offer tea to herself. At bedtime she rearranged her sheets and blankets many times.”

To this date, the fluffiness of her pillow is a matter of life and death. She would easily cancel a trip if she did not have her own special sheets.

“At home I can read and take care of my paperwork. I can listen to the news, but only if Maman is not leaving the bathroom with a few drops of water dripping down her leg. She ought to dry herself off after using the toilet.”

I must be staring at her.

She says, “I am talking about legs. Wet legs drive me nuts. Do you understand what those little drops of water do to me? You don’t know how I feel when I get that upset.”

I know when she is nervous, she plays with her pimples to the point that they go away. She sits in front of the mirror and tweezes her eyebrows until the light skin underneath shows. She files her fingernails so sharp that they look like the tip of a fountain pen with no ink.

She inspects every corner of the house and keeps talking about the toilet and the sink. I am hopeful, because I have found something that I can talk to Shahla about, and perhaps I can share something about Amir, too, the fact that I have not yet been able to accept his departure. Canada is not like Baku in that he can come back any time he wants to. Canada is on the other end of the world, and the world is only becoming smaller for the rich. For us it remains big, very big. I am getting into details when Shahla moves her double chin and walks toward the bathroom. That’s not only a piece of flesh hanging from her chin. A delicate movement of her double chin tells you that she is not interested in sentimental stories, and she is determined to only talk about toilets and sinks.

Shahla is not interested in just anything in the world. Other people’s emotions keep her attention as long as they fit into her sewing pattern. Shahla is all about patterns, customs, plans, and logic.