Something Special

Get in the Car

"Subhanallah, Ma. Don't worry," Adeelah squeezed past the cluster of men rudely chatting at the large masjid entrance, "I just had to make . I'm heading to the store now. Excuse me." She made sure they saw her exaggerated eye roll before rounding the huge embellished door and shooting onto the busy Atlantic Avenue sidewalk. Some brothers just had no home training.

People in thobes and jilbabs scurrying up and down the street and into and out of shops gave this section of Brooklyn a Middle Eastern tone, but the many races and ethnicities of the Muslims shopping for the upcoming 'Eid celebrations conveyed the diversity of the New York followers of the faith.

"Do you have the list?" Her mother's irritation transmitted clearly through the phone. Ironically, the last days of Ramadan made her and everyone else enduring weeks of fasting the most impatient.

"Yeah, you sure you don't want to leave some stuff for other people?" Adeelah snickered and ran her finger between her face and the edge of her khimar to allow a rare small breeze to flow inside.

"You're a real riot."

"I get if from you, mom." She wove through the crowd. There were quite a few stops to make. Best to get this over with and off the streets. "Oh, I also need to—" Her heart jumped. An icy chill shot through her body as a hand clamped on her shoulder. "Oh, no." She spun under its pull.

Taal peered at Adeelah; his smoke-grey eyes burned with rage. "Oh, yes. I got you now." Pain shot through her scalp where her husband grabbed a fist full of hair over its covering. Her head and neck snapped with every jerk. "I hear you think you're divorcing me."

Adeelah's survival instincts kicked in; she dug her short nails into and scraped them down his hand, backing away the moment it opened. "I'm not staying married to you," she heaved and seethed through clenched teeth. "You're an animal."

The red flush covering Taal's screwed face matched the khimar crushed in his grip. He dropped it and stalked towards her, nostrils flared and a vein twisting down the front of his forehead. "That's not going to happen. You ungrateful bitch. Do you know what I've gone through to be with you? My family flipped when they found out I was marrying a Black. No one wants us around. Ever wonder why we're never invited to family gatherings? They even threatened to disown me, but I stood my ground."

Adeelah stumbled backward. "I don't know why. Nothing I do is good enough." Flanked by the traffic-heavy street and stores, Taal scrambled to block her from any open doors. "You're always getting mad and beating on me. I'm not going to be your punching bag anymore. I don't care how many times you say sorry, I'm tired of a broken heart," she held up the arm that had been in a cast the week before, "and broken bones. I want you out of my life.

"You're not divorcing me after all I've done for you." Huge balled fists swung at the bottom of bulging arms. "You're mine!" His roar tore through the city din surrounding them and into her heart. Some pedestrians stopped while others simply glanced without pausing their progress. She winced under the vice-like grip of his hand around her wrist. He dragged and flung her onto a silver BMW. If only she'd noticed it earlier and had a chance to get away. "In the car, now." He swung the driver's door open.

Adeelah shot off the hood and bolted back towards the masjid. Surely there would be someone there to save her. "Help me!" The same group of men clustered at the door stared, slack-jawed and motionless. Pain shot through her head and shoulders at the volley of punches Taal rained on them. She ducked her head under her arms and fell to the ground, curling her body into a 'c' shape—a position she'd learn to assume in their first year of marriage.

The man who once claimed to love her towered over her. "Get up." More blows fell. "I said get up you—"

Adeelah raised onto her hands and scanned to see what interrupted another of her husband's violent beatdowns. His face pressed against the engraved masjid door, Taal unsuccessfully tried to buck a huge man off of him. Tattoos spread down from under a t-shirt and quaked over her rescuer's massive arm muscles. "Are you insane, man?" Green eyes flashing with anger captured her gaze. "You okay, sis?"

Adeelah gulped and nodded. "Yeah." Lifting off the sidewalk on achy arms, she staggered, stroking her waves. Where is my khimar?

"No!" Another roar from Taal made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. "You're not goin' anywhere." She spun to the scuffling.

Taal growled and sprung off the door; the large man subduing him stumbled back but caught his footing and swept a leg under her soon-to-be ex-husband's feet. "Oh, no you don't." The man straddled and held both of Taal's wrists with one hand. "You're not goin' anywhere." He sneered at the doorway trio. "One of you men call the police." The bass voice set the stagnant bunch in motion.