K U WA I T I S E E K E R  21 On Friday we spent the night together in her flat. This was a first for me, not so for Molly. There were days when we didn’t go outside. My schoolwork might have suffered except for the fact that I had mastered the requirements of my courses to a high degree. My writing skills preserved my marks. Then, there was Audry, again at the Red Lion. There was over- lap between Molly and Audry. I tried to decide if I felt guilty about the double-dealing. I couldn’t decide, so I proceeded with the duplicity. I consumed more and more of the warm brown ale to obscure my thoughts of concern about the behavior. After all, if I were back in Kuwait, I would have two wives like Suhayb, and Islam prevents me from wedding these two unbe- lievers. Weren’t they like the captured slave concubines of my desert ancestors? The split between my father and me had widened. Salman in- formed me I should acquire skills in business and return to Ku- wait in the burgeoning petroleum business. But I majored in his- tory, thus departing from my family’s objectives. I avoided returning to Kuwait my last summer in London. During the month of August, I made my rounds between Molly and Audry, and then finally with my newest addition, Anna. Per- haps if there had been more time with Anna . . . When I boarded the plane for New York, I was drained of all my physical resources. My eyes fell shut as soon as the plane reached cruising altitude. I had been accepted into the PhD program at the University of Arizona in Tucson, and my professor had agreed to my chosen area of research: the history of Islamic law, or Sharia. The idea of a lawbreaker studying the law appealed to my sense of irony. I had taken five years to complete my degree at King’s College. Most importantly, the extra courses allowed me to extend my time away from the conflicts in Kuwait.