She heard them talking together as they sat making chupatis. When she entered the room there was silence. A few spiteful glances.
Her mother in law turned her head away, would not meet her eye, so the girl said loud and clear -
``Mother in law, your son fathers no child because he loves only men.''
Now they would kill her. She sat on the roof of the house and looked down at the sun baked streets and tried to plan an escape. She had nowhere to go, no-one to help her. Married a year and still a virgin! The shame of it! She would just walk away. Perhaps they wouldn't stop her. After all they had her dowry, what more could they want? They could want to burn her. She was fifteen years old. She was alone among enemies. She allowed herself a few tears.
Her mother in law had climbed onto the roof. She was puffing slightly because she was a heavy woman. She sat down beside the girl. ``There are ways of becoming pregnant from a man such as my son...''
``He does not wish me to touch him...''
``As a married woman...''
The girl did not understand the implication, or if she did she did not acknowledge such dangerous ground.
``My son is a good man.''
``He is a good man, but he fears the touch of a woman.''
``And yet he married you.''
``And didn't my dowry pay your owed taxes and save the family businesses?''
``Certainly it helped.''
The mother in law took the peach she held and pulled it in two and took the seed and threw it into the street where it bounced at the feet of a little boy selling tea from a tray. The boy jumped backward on skinny, slightly bowed legs and the cups slopped over only slightly. The girl and woman sat together on the roof looking out at the town as they ate the peach.
``You are an excellent book keeper,'' the woman said, ``my son wishes to attend the University of Michigan. Go with him to America. Make your own way from there.''