#242 The Rug- Meg Mullins
Ushman Khan is a rug merchant selling his high-end floor
coverings to New York’s elite, some of which, like Mrs. Roberts, are particular
and demanding. He is here to build his business so his wife will come to
America from Tabriz, but she is reluctant. This is his dream not hers, and she
resents him leaving her to care for his crippled mother.
This and the many miscarriages she has suffered causes their
marriage to strain: “He did not come to America to lose his wife.”
One day, while he is appraising an antique expensive rug,
the man who has left it in his shop, dies. He knows that, if he wants it, the
rug could now be his for free, and the sale of this rug could make him a
fortune. But money won't buy him the happiness he wants, he is surrounded by
loveless greed, vanity, death, and failure.
Notable Passage: “Except for your threshold, there is no
refuge in this world for me; except for this door, there is no shelter for my
head. When the enemy’s sword is drawn, I throw down my shield in flight because
I have no weapon except weeping and sighing.”
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