The Wolf
After the first snow fell, she disappeared. The women would see her sitting beside the heater reading something or pouring tea for herself. When the doctor would go to pay calls in other villages, the driver’s wife or the doorman would stay with the lady. It seems Sadiqeh, the driver’s wife, understood first. She had told the women, “At first I thought she was worried about her husband because she’d start suddenly, go up to the window and pull back the curtains.” She would stand next to the window and gaze into the white, bright desert. Sadiqeh said, “When the wolves start howling, she goes up to the window.”
Anyway, in the winter, if the snow falls, the wolves come closer to the settlement. It’s the same way every year. Sometimes a dog, a sheep, or even a child would disappear, so that afterwards the villagers would have to go out in a group to find, maybe a collar or a shoe, or some other trace. But Sadiqeh had seen the wolf’s glistening eyes and had seen how the doctor’s wife stared at the wolf’s eyes. One time she didn’t even hear Sadiqeh call out to her.
After the second and third snows fell, the doctor was unable to visit the outlying area. When he saw that he would have to stay in his house four or five nights a week, he was ready to join in our social rounds. Our get-togethers were not for the women, but, well, if the doctor’s wife came, she’d be able to join the women. But his wife had said, “I’ll stay home.” Even on the nights when it was the doctor’s turn to host the get-together at his house, his wife would sit next to the heater and read a book, or would go up to the window and look at the desert or, from the window on this side of the house, look at the cemetery and, I think, the bright lights of the village. It was at our house, I believe, when the doctor said, “I must go home early tonight.” Apparently he’d seen a big wolf in the road.