When they arrived in Kabul, Mariam had never seen anything like it, since she lived in a KabaRasheed's home-nothing what the wives said it would be: his garden consisted of weeds and rocks, his house was not as big as Jalil's, but big, and the inside was dirty and crowded. When they got inside, he showed her to the room she would be staying in. They wouldn't be sharing a room, which Mariam was very grateful for. After he left for work, which was a shoe making shop he owned, she lay in bed all day without unpacking her things. Everyday when Rasheed would come home from work, he would tell her about his days at work and all the famous people he had made shoes for. Then one day he told her that she couldn't just lay in bed and not unpack her things; "this is not a hotel, its a home i have provided for you" Rasheed said. Rasheed was a tempered and sad man. Not too long ago, he had lost his wife, and then his son in a drowning accident. He had nothing left now, but a new wife. Mariam then decided that she must do something for him. When he rode off to work one day, she got up and started cleaning up the place and also started to cook Rasheed dinner. One day she needed to buy some dough, so got went outside and followed the other women walking to buy some. All of a sudden the women crowded around her and started yelling and saying "oh you must be Rasheed's new one!" "oh your so young!". Finally a helpful woman named Fariba came to her rescue. Fariba was the "gossip girl" of Kabul. She was also very pregnant. Scared to death, Mariam started running away, then fell and scrapped her knee. When she got up, she couldn't remember where she lived, so she had to keep going in different peoples fences until she got to the right one. After that whole ordeal, she never wanted to go out again. On Fridays, Rasheed didn't work, so he would usually take Mariam to the city of Kabul and give her a tour.


One day when Rasheed was done eating dinner he came up to Mariam's room to say goodnight. Right after he shut the room, he came back in and lay next to her in bed. He then started to squeeze Mariam's breasts roughly. "I cant do this now" Mariam said. Forcefully, Rasheed got on top of Mariam and forced himself into her. This wasn't really considered rape then because the men had all the control in the home. After he was done, he left. For the rest of the night she lay on her back looking at the ceiling in pain. Later, after a doctors visit, it was announced that she was pregnant. When Mariam heard those words, she started to feel so much joy. Rasheed too became happy. "It is a boy, i know it" he said. "What if it is a girl?" Mariam said. "If so, you can name her whatever you want" he said.