Fikret

She suffers from weak knees. And well she might. Seventy years of doing floors on her hands and knees would take their toll. So she sits to do her prayers now, and hopes that Allah will be merciful. She knows she should bend and bow, but she does so with her head and arms now. Hoping. Her daughter has spells. Well, one daughter does. Another works long hours, because, well, someone has to, and now that it's just the women folk, it's best to just be quiet and accept one's fate. Allah knows, she tried. But maybe she didn't take enough sacrifices to the shrines, or give enough away on holidays, or bite her tongue hard enough when her drunken husband beat her. Somehow kismet has not been good to them. So she has resigned herself to much hopelessness. How can a worm of a woman hope when the prophet said that hell is populated primarily with the female race?

Her daughter has spells. She faints and is dizzy and can't finish her words she meant to say. She went to the priest and paid him for charms that she might wear them, but it made her worse, somehow. Tonight she is going to a friend's house. This friend, she work's with her other daughter, the one who works. They teach together at a school. This friend has often come over to visit, and she has a Joy on her, and Hope. This friend invited them over tonight. So they are going to her house.

Fikret rocks back and forth, thinking. It’s interesting. Come to think of it, every time that Friend comes over, a Peace comes with her. A certain Joy is in her eyes. She walks with Hope. Fikret looks over at her daughter, twitching, even in her sleep. When that Friend is here the daughter is restful. Maybe the Friend knows something?

She said she wants to thank them for the kindness of welcoming them to her home so faithfully, over and over, and would they be so kind to come to her house this time? So they are going. This friend, she told them about how when she prays she has so much Peace. It's evident from the Joy she has all about her. She must have a way to get to God then? Tonight, maybe this friend can pray for her knees, and for her daughter's spells?