Armanoush tried not to pay any attention to the stark disparity between the imam’s diminutive body and the stoutness of the women surrounding him. She tried equally hard not to eye the void where the man’s fingers were supposed to be. On each hand the imam had only one and a half fingers. It was impossible not to wonder what had happened. Was he born like that, or had they been chopped off? Whatever the story, the incompleteness of his body was one reason why all these women were so at ease next to him. In his imperfection resided the key to his perfection, in his lack of wholeness the secret
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