#FridayReads I'm getting close to the end of Exit Party by @emilymandel.bsky.social, and I don't want it to be over! This story of alternate USes and doubled characters is so compelling and strange and wonderful.
Lisa Eckstein
@lisaeckstein.com
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Reader. Writer. Big fan of human rights for everyone. Pronouns: she/her. Pronounce: EX-teen. Physical location: Silicon Valley, CA. Digital location: lisaeckstein.com
![The first page of Chapter One of the novella "The Night Sweeps the Mountains Away" by Tanvir Ahmed.
The chapter begins with an epigraph in the Pashto script. A page at the back of the book provides a translation:
My whole life has flown by with this one desire
That you might ask me, "Who are you, who might you be?"
Rahman
English text then reads:
The first time I met Mina, I saw the story written at the corner of her eye. A diamond in four dots, nested between her right temple and the edge of her eyebrow. To most it would look like a beauty mark. I knew better
.
I met her toward summer's end, as the winds began to settle and the markets swelled with the year's last eastbound caravans. At the time, I was making a living as a water carrier. I spent most days loping between the public wells and my clients' houses, waiting with the women and nomads to fill my leather bag, hauling it through the dust and clamor of the streets, forcing a smile as doors opened for me. I made enough for my daily bread, and did not have to ask for alms.
I had several clients in the area of the Gulistan Gate, a quiet neighborhood shaded by fragrant olive trees. The air there was sweetened by birdsong and scents from unseen... [page ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:x3mzmfizt2ygg5lgbx44cbq5/bafkreiahgkvvth6ar2m6hxpwxb7txbhbtzgpks7gzzicdmapy2pa5f3ii4)
