The Bastard of Istanbul

Asya fills a tea glass to the brim and hears the glass crack. Auntie Feride begins to wonder if there’s an evil eye on Asya, which will warrant Petite-Ma’s protection, in the form of melted lead. 

Petite-Ma’s practice is to pour “melted lead into a pan full of water” (301). If there is an evil eye, “a hole in the lead in the shape of an eye would materialize” (301). Asya, like Auntie Zeliha, doesn’t believe in the practice but, instead, thinks that people see what they want in the lead. 

Armanoush awakens and enters the room. Everyone offers their condolences for her grandmother’s death. They then provide her with breakfast. Armanoush asks Auntie Zeliha to take her to the airport to meet her mother. Asya wants to go, too, but Zeliha orders her to stay so that she can read the lead, which Asya finds absurd. Asya helps Auntie Banu prepare ashure in anticipation of Mustafa’s visit; Armanoush helps. 

Auntie Banu tells them the story of ashure—a revision of the tale of Noah’s ark. There was no food left after the flood; people supplied what little they had and, in the end, created the bounty of ashure. Auntie Zeliha enters and tells Armanoush that it’s time to go to the airport.