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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

“I want to explore this city, but I suppose that wouldn’t be a good idea.” His defeat is almost palpable. It hurts me. He picks up my hand, like it belongs to him, and turns it up to look at the star embedded in my palm. He kisses the star and dammit, I stop breathing again.

“You!” I snatch my hand away and he grins.

“Sorry.”

“Are you really?” I look at him suspiciously.

“Not really.”

“Why did you do that?” I ask him, sweating. He is moving too quickly. I can’t keep track. After so many years of not allowing anyone near me, his attentions are confusing. I am confused. Slightly intoxicated. And possibly dying. Or dead. Whichever. “This is the third time I am seeing you. You don’t kiss girls after seeing them three times.”

“I didn’t kiss you. I kissed the star.” The grin is still in his eyes. Then his smile dims. “I don’t know why I’m acting like this. No. Actually I do. I’m scared that I will die when I’ve only just started living. I want to do everything because I feel like I never will if I don’t seize the chance right now. I haven’t kissed anyone before.” He ducks his head, blushing. “I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”

“No. Wait. Stop. I’m not sure I don’t want you to do it again. I just don’t understand what this is. What is this?”

“I don’t know either.”

“Great.” This is a case of the blinder leading the blind.

We are silent for five minutes before Taraana stirs.

“Can you show me around the house?”

“I can do that. There is a conservatory. Did I tell you that?”

“No. Does the conservatory have eggplants?”

“Let’s go find out.”

Sunny Jelly Beans, Po’Boys, and “Alouette”

When we get back to the house, Paheli and Taraana are arguing over a jar of peanut butter. He thinks it’s disgusting, and she thinks he’s disgusting for thinking that. This is not how we thought their relationship would progress, but it will have to do for the moment.

Daraja has stocked up on jelly beans from the store at which we exchanged Between diamonds for money. These jelly beans are all yellow and all contain bursts of sunlight that brighten up your day no matter how desolate you are feeling. We are addicted to them.

We hit the mall right after getting moneyed, glimmering into visibility for an hour and a half as we swanned into human stores and picked up clothes for Taraana. Can there be anything crueler than trying out clothes in a changing room with mirrors on all four sides castigating your imperfections while outside well-dressed mannequins judge you smugly for being more flesh than plastic?