I thought, She listens as a judge and a woman. Her eye sees what others might miss.

She said, Counsel, ask her questions only to elicit the evidence. Otherwise we will be here forever.

His skin was dry and hard, and he answered, Perhaps I’ve let myself go a little, but Your Honour, I ask your indulgence. We come from those regions, we are part of the same fabric. I know everything this woman has gone through.

This Esma would not stomach in silence. Žarko Dragić, who sat looking down on her, had done terrible things to her granddaughter and daughter. She would not listen to his filthy lawyer with his smooth tongue.

She interrupted, Od istog materijala! We are not the same fabric. He knows nothing of what I went through. I lost everything. He understands nothing about me.

Judge Banda had to control her courtroom. Already this was proving difficult with traumatized witnesses. I wondered if I detected in Mataruga a masked disdain for her, a foreigner, a woman, an African. I wondered how often she had encountered prejudice throughout her impressive career. Whatever she felt, she showed no emotion. She would not allow herself to be seen as less than impartial.

She said, Witness, we understand. Would you like a break?

No, and I don’t want to be provoked in this way.

Counsel, please proceed. It is understood that these places were used for detention whatever their names. Do not dispute her.

In this way Judge Banda kept the air moving through the great bellows of the court.

Mataruga asked Esma, Could you leave the recreation hall?

No.

You did not go outside?

Yes, sometimes I hid in the bushes to avoid the soldiers. I am old. They were not looking for me.

Why did you not run away?

Esma said, Run where? We had nowhere to go. The town was occupied. We were starving. Where could we go without getting killed? I tried to get my granddaughter to come outside with me but she was too frightened. She thought they’d kill her.

How did you try to hide your granddaughter?

There was nowhere to hide. It is an empty hall. Only a bathroom at the back. I lay on top of her so if they were drunk they might not think of her. One night seven young girls were brought in with their mothers from a different village. They were too young and all of us fought the soldiers. But they hit us with their guns and their heavy boots. They knocked all of us out. When I revived, the girls were gone, my granddaughter too. Blood was everywhere. We tried to clean ourselves. But no water. The small children were crouching beside their unconscious mothers. Do not ever say ever again we are of the same fabric.

—

The night before Edina testified, she telephoned me and said, From my hotel I can see the ocean.

I stepped out on my balcony and said, I am looking at the ocean too.