Chapter 14: Healer, Part 3

Cemal rolled his eyes.

"Should I stop them?" Binhadi asked, voice low and laced with the barest hint of amusement. "I am beginning to think I should just let them maim each other. Or fuck. Whichever they get to first."

Snickering, Cemal replied, "Sometimes the only way to deal with a problem is to leave fools to their folly. My mother often yelled at me when I was a little boy not to put my hand in the fire. I would not heed her warnings, or the innumerable times she slapped my hands with her cooking spoon. Finally, one day, she let me be. I was very smug in my triumph. I cried for hours from the way my hand burned and would not stop hurting. But I never again tried to put my hand in the fire."