An Evil Eye

36

Elif and Melda burst into their room, giggling.

“Ciao! Ciao! Ciao!” Elif waggled her fingertips and Melda laughed again.

She reached up to remove the pin that fixed the shako to her glossy black hair and caught sight of the little girl crouched on the divan with her hands to her head, staring at them both with big, frightened eyes.

“Hey, princess!” Melda laughed. “It’s only us.”

Elif lunged forward, still waggling her fingers. “Boo!”

Roxelana scrambled backward, with a look of unfiltered horror. “No! Go away!”

“Oh, grow up, Roxelana,” Elif said irritably.

Melda took off her hat and shook her head, and her long hair spilled down across her shoulders. She crossed to the divan and put her arms around the little girl, feeling her stiff bones.

“It’s all right, princess. We’re back. Did you get frightened while we were away?”

Roxelana blinked. She looked silently at Melda’s braided collar, and at the buttons of her tunic.

Only later, when they were all lying together at night, did she say: “I don’t like that funny hat, Melda. I don’t like it when you wear those hats.”

Melda gave her a squeeze. “It’s just for the orchestra. To make us look smart for the sultan.”

Roxelana was quiet for a while. “I think they make you look… bad.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

“Go to sleep,” Elif murmured. “They’re just hats. Shhh.”