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Back The Wild Ones Save as PDF
Chapters (61)
  1. Cover
  2. PRAISE FOR The Wild Ones
  3. Title Page
  4. Dedication
  5. Epigraph
  6. The Beginning, or How Paheli Became the First Wild One; With a Cameo by Taraana, the Boy Made of Stars.
  7. An Introduction; Hold On to Your Hats.
  8. The Sweetness in the Sugarcane, or The Impractical Nature of Immortality
  9. Paheli: The Vagrant Experiences of a Mango Addict
  10. Cotton Candy Sugar Screams
  11. From the Book of MEMORIES
  12. “Will You Walk into My Parlor?” Said the Spider to the Fly.
  13. The Best Ice Cream in the World, Teddy Bears, and a Tree Creature.
  14. From the Book of MEMORIES
  15. I.
  16. The Reappearance of the Boy Made of Stars and the Plight of the Girl by the Oleander Lane.
  17. Paheli: An Interlude in Blue
  18. Besieged in the Between
  19. Tea, the City of Stairs, and the Story of a Boy
  20. From the Book of MEMORIES
  21. Heartbreak, Stone Buildings, and Tandoori
  22. Observations, Conversations, and Hot Parantha
  23. Paheli: The Spies Who Came In from the Between
  24. From the Book of MEMORIES
  25. The French Quarter, the Spanish Half, and Eulalie
  26. Paheli: The Eggplant Overture
  27. Sunny Jelly Beans, Po’Boys, and “Alouette”
  28. From the Book of MEMORIES
  29. The Keeper of the Green and the Mysteries of Magic
  30. Blood and the Between
  31. The Library of the Lost and the Stories of the Silenced
  32. Walking in Wicked Ways or The Importance of Balık Ekmek
  33. From the Book of MEMORIES
  34. Looking for the Needle in the Haystack
  35. Paheli: The Peculiar Crackle in the Electricity
  36. Ten Degrees Past Despair
  37. The Fault in the Stars
  38. The Blue City in the Mountains
  39. Paheli: Disharmony in the Attics
  40. From the Book of MEMORIES
  41. Paheli: Continued
  42. The Politics of a Body, the Politics of Pleasure
  43. The Medina, the Riad, and the Red City
  44. Paheli: The Atlas Mountains, the Cozy Rooftop, and the Confession, Possibly of Love
  45. From the Book of MEMORIES
  46. Souks, Spices, and Survival: A Guide into Chaos
  47. Jemaa el-Fna: The Mosque at the End of the World
  48. Paheli: A Moment in Chartreuse
  49. From the Book of MEMORIES
  50. Paheli: On the Frailties of the Heart
  51. Sonagi, or A Sudden Rain
  52. Paheli: The Cheese in the Trap
  53. Paheli: The Maze and the Minotaur
  54. A New Era, a New Dar; the River Sings
  55. The Burning Door, the Fallen City, and Taraana 2.0
  56. Paheli: The Beginning of Forever
  57. From the Book of MEMORIES
  58. Moving One Rock at a Time Will Eventually Move a Mountain, aka Goodbye
  59. Acknowledgments
  60. More from the Author
  61. About the Author

“What do you want to do?” Paheli asks instead, her question curling around the breeze in the air.

“What can I do?” the girl bursts out. “I live in this small place with no jobs I can do. If I don’t go to school, I will be married off to some man who will think I am a replacement for his mother or his maid. I will have children and spend the rest of my life wishing for all the things I didn’t do and didn’t learn.

“I thought about running away, but where would I go?” the girl asks. “I do not want to bring shame to my parents. I love them. I just want to study more. Why is that too much to ask for?”

If you are a woman, any desire you have that is yours alone is too much to ask for. Everything you do must benefit the family, the community, the country, or the world. You never simply belong to yourself.

“I don’t know why I’m telling you this. It’s not like you can help me.” Her voice falters in the darkness.

Paheli takes out the pouch in which she keeps her money. She removes two bundles of cash from it and holds them out to the girl. “This should be enough for your tuition.”

The girl gapes at Paheli’s outstretched hand. “How can you just give this to me so easily?”

“Money is one thing we don’t have to worry about. Take it,” Paheli urges. “You might change your mind about school. We don’t mind if you do. Consider this a gift.”

“I… How do I trust you?” The girl makes no move to take the money.

“Look, if you don’t want it, don’t take it,” Kamboja says impatiently. “We are not asking to move in with you or anything. We just want to help you in the only way we know how. We can only give you the money, not fight your parents for you.”

“Also, we aren’t asking you to trust us.” Talei is gentler. “In fact, you will probably never see us again after today.”

“I pay my debts,” the girl says, taking the money. “I will repay this one too.”

“What is your name?” Valentina asks.

The girl hesitates, then looks at us and says, “Sadia.”

“Well, Sadia,” Valentina says, “if you consider this money a debt, you can repay it by helping some other girl who needs it. Give her your faith, love, or money when she needs it. Like we have helped you, help her. When you do that, your debt will be repaid. Sound good?”