I felt like a man who awakens in his own house and finds all the furniture rearranged, so that every familiar nook and cranny looks foreign now. Disoriented, he has to reevaluate his surroundings, reorient himself.

Your job today is to pass gas. You do that and we can start feeding you liquids. No fart, no food.

But mostly, Mariam, is in Laila's own heart, where she shines with the bursting radiance of a thousand suns.

she was leaving the world as a woman who had loved and been loved back.She was leaving it as a friend, a companion, a guardian. A mother.

Ahesta boro, Mah-e-man, ahesta boro.

It was you Nabi.It was always you.Didn't you know?

In the middle of the night, when Laila woke up thirsty, she found their hands still clamped together, in the white-knuckle, anxious way of children clutching balloon strings.

For you, a thousand times over!