Her eyes were inky-black and frank. Some sort of evolutionary thing in her genes, perhaps, to render themselves penetratingly human behind a burka. Even though her traditional dress had been minimized to a headscarf, old manners die hard. I had encountered this strange thing about her before, this taking of things literally and seriously. It’s as if her part of the world did not have the same rules of small talk and niceties as ours. I found it so beguiling.
