I was walking out of the health food store and into the parking lot when something powerful and strange stopped me dead in my tracks. A woman dressed from head to toe in a black veil, a bui-bui, I believe it’s called in Arabic, stood stock-still, alone, tall, only her eyes showing, but oh what eyes, like bits of onyx set in virgin snow. A panther would have been less shocking than this woman. Everyone who saw her just stopped and stared. Normal manners didn’t seem to apply to this situation. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, and yet, I saw nothing but those eyes. Perhaps she was stricken in terror. Children walked right up to her and stood staring in awe. It felt like some tremendous mistake. But maybe she was only dreaming, and we were dreaming along with her. It was a cruel dream, the kind that changes you forever, and waking from it was strictly forbidden. Her bui-bui was made in Heaven, the blackest corner of it.