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“Atiye — that was her name — was delivered of another son as big as a yearling sheep. And so she continued to bear children bu she gave them no peace. The village children roamed about wearing nothing but a greasy bib, but she clothed her own in a very odd manner. Young Nuğber gambolled about in the village dust and dirt dressed in nylon garments, with a ribbon in her hair and a dummy in her mouth. The boys climbed into the topmost branches of the walnut trees wearing dungarees held up with braces, and they chased the oxen and donkeys with colored whirligigs in their hands. ... On top of all that, their mother had invented something called 'soap,' and once every two days she nearly flayed them alive scrubbing them with it.”

“It was also then that the women of Ak&‌ccedil;ah started a new custom. Underneath their garments they wrapped cloth bands around their waists to squeeze them tight. They were so awed by Zekiye's thin waist that, for a while, they ignored Atiye when she reminded them that this waist-thinning method wouldn't work unless they had started very young. But the women kept their waistbands on until the sheep-mating season to see what would happeend. Then they all began to wheeze. They found that in their zeal for having thin waists they had afflicted themselves with shortness of breath, coughing, flushes and sweating. A few had sores on their hands, faces and other parts of their bodies. Three women had problems with their eyes and speech. And when their waists started to swell up like logs, they all took off the cloth bands. "We're well past the age of waist-thinning," they said. All the same, they considered it their duty as mothers to raise their daughters to be as slender as Zekiye. They took lessons in the art of waist-thinning from Atiye and soon discovered that plastic bags were more effective than cloth bands. Thereafter, whenever they had girl babies, they would wash them with three bowls of water as soon as the umbilical cord was cut and then wrap plastic bags around their waists, blowing prayers on them all the while.”

“The djinn Kepse was invisible at first but later it appeared as a fever, followed by sweating and shivering. Finally it pounced on your chest and sat there, a black ball with neither hands nor feet, and with eyes like lentils. If, just at that moment, you were quick enough to reach out and grab Kepse, it immediately became your faithful servant. But if you missed, and it escaped, you never got another chance.”

“Başı sonu olan bir şey yazılamaz artık, öyle düşünüyorum, elim gitmiyor. İçime bir duygu çöktü, yaptığımız her şeyi yarıda bırakmamız gerektiğini düşünmeye başladım... Kim ne yapıyorsa, başlar başlamaz vazgeçmeli, dünyanın haline uygun olan bu... Yarım bir roman yazmaya cesaretim olsa..." İnsanların eline yarısından sonrası olmayan bir kitap tutuşturamadığı için yazmayı bırakmış sözde.. Kendini anlatmaya kaptırdığı için ona belli etmedim ama benim için söylediği şeyi kavramak o kadar zor değildi. İşte, bir şeyleri bitirip sona erdirme çağı kapandı dünyada, demek istiyordu... Zihnimiz uçup gidiyormuş... "Hikayeler başlıyor, evet... Ama biz hikayelerden çok daha hızlıyız artık, dünyanın bütün hikayelerini geride bırakacak bir hızla almış başımızı gidiyoruz... Daha büyük, daha başka bir hikayenin hızı mı bu?Anlamaya uğraşıyorum... Bir zamanlar herkes herkesten sözünün sonunu getirmesini beklerdi...”

“As both a racketeer and a man who turned a profit, he won a place in his father's heart. Huvat broke open his green books and blew prayers after him. He permitted Seyit to smoke in his presence and to shine up his stiletto and spin the chambers of his revolver. After he had bowed in daily prayer, Huvat offered his salutation each time and implored Allah to multiply the strength and power of his son.”