"Aha." "I killed him." "I told him not to." "I told him to stop." "But he didn't." "First I fired at his leg." "He didn't stop." "So this time I fired a bit higher up." "The bullet hit him in the stomach." "He still didn't stop." "So I took aim at his heart." "I begged him." "I begged him not to come any closer." "He didn't listen." "I cried." "I screamed." "I howled." "He didn't stop." "So I fired." "This time he fell at my feet." "He made a strange rasping sound." "He lifted his head and looked straight at me." "Then he laughed." "He laughed and laughed." "He didn't stop laughing." "20 April" "Ali?" "I went crazy when I got your note." "I couldn't wait for morning to see you." "What is it you have to tell me?" "You said it was really important in the note." " Ali?" " Huh?" "What is it?" "Has something bad happened?" "Answer me!" "What's bothering you?" "Look at me, Ali." "Look at me, I said." "What's wrong?" "Talk to me, please!" "Is there some terrible problem?" "Don't go quiet on me." "Say something!" "Dilber..." "Talk to me, please!" "They're getting me married." "What?" "They're getting me married." "Who to?" "Hatice." "Hatice?" "Well, what about me?" "I thought you said we'd get married." "Your father doesn't want me." "What about your father?" "Does he want me?" "He doesn't want you either." "Why not?" "My father and Hatice's father made a promise years ago." "That if their children were boys and girls they'd marry them off to each other." "Now they're saying," ""We promised, we made a vow."" ""We can't go back on our word."" "When are you getting married then?" " Tomorrow." " What?" "Dilber..." "Da-a-a-d!" "Da-a-a-a-d!" "What's all this about, girl?" "Why aren't you marrying me to Ali?" "What right do you have to speak to your father like that?" "Answer me!" "Why aren't you marrying me to Ali?" "Watch it or I'II..." " Hey!" " Just try." "Just you try!" "I'll hack you all to pieces, first you, then Mum, then my brothers and sisters!" "Whoa!" "Have you lost your mind?" "How dare you threaten your elders!" "Shut up!" "Give me an answer!" "Why aren't you marrying me to Ali?" "I swear to God it's not my fault." "Ali's father Haydar is to blame for everything." "He and Hatice's father Rýza made a promise to get them married." "Well, that's what they say." "Don't do anything stupid!" "Wait, girl!" "Life is fleeting!" "Don't, Dilber!" "Stop!" "It's not worth it!" "Don't, Dilber!" "Stop!" "Life's too short!" "Don't!" "Don't do anything stupid, girl!" "Stop, girl!" "Don't, girl!" "Stop!" "Haydar Amca!" "Haydar Amca-a-a!" "Haydar Amca, come outside!" "Don't do this, Dilber!" "Don't shame us in front of everyone!" "Come out of there!" "Come out!" " Is it me you want?" " Aha." "Go ahead." "Speak." "Why don't you want me as Ali's bride, Haydar Amca?" "Look, Dilber." "What you're doing..." "Stop it, Dad!" "Shut up!" "Or I'll kill the lot of you!" "Speak up, Haydar Amca!" "Why don't you want me for Ali?" "Rýza and I made a deal in the army." "That we'd get our first-born children married." "We swore on the Koran." "Can't you forget about that?" "You can't go back on your word!" "You know as well as I do." "Your word is your honour." "But what about us, Haydar Amca?" "What about me?" "Ali and I have been in love for years." "Isn't it unfair on us?" "What do you say to this?" "Whatever..." "Whatever my father says." "That's the way I was brought up, the way I know." "Inside..." "I'm crying tears of blood inside." "But that's what I say." "God damn you!" "God damn you all!" "God damn your promises, your customs!" "Well, I promise right here." "I'll marry the first man to come over that hill and ask for my hand." "I'll be his wife, his woman." "That's a promise." "I don't want a wedding, or jewellery, or a wedding dress." "I want everyone to know that." "And until that day I'm going to live in the barn with the animals." "Because even they're more human than you are." "Don't do this, Dilber." "Please don't do this." "Don't torture us or yourself like this." "Stop being stubborn." "Come back home." "Look, you're young, you're beautiful, you're hard-working." "There'll be other men." "You'll get married." "You'll have a family and forget about everything." "Come on now!" "Don't bury yourself alive!" "Your mother's distraught, your brothers and sisters too." "And I've had it." "I've had it!" "Stop this stubbornness and come with me." "Come on, my beautiful." "Come on." "Huh?" "It's up to you, girl." "It's up to you." "If you want to bury yourself alive..." "It's up to you." "21 April" "Dear daughter..." "My ill-fated daughter..." "My gazelle..." "Come on." "Stop this stubbornness." "Don't eat yourself up, don't destroy yourself like this." "Look, Ali's getting married." "Tonight is his wedding night." "He'll be setting up a happy home." "He'll be happy." "He'll forget you." "My beautiful..." "My gazelle..." "Come on." "You forget him too!" "Perhaps a good, honest man will come and find you." "You'll marry him and set up a happy home." "You'll forget Ali and everything that happened." "Man has forgotten all kinds of things over the centuries." "So don't tell me you can't forget Ali." "Come on, my beautiful." "My gazelle..." "Get up." "Let's go home." "Come on, daughter." "Come on, my gazelle." "Come on." "Get up." "Let's go home." "Come on, daughter." "Let's go home." "Daughter..." "Daughter..." "Daughter... 22 April" " Selam aleykum." " Aleykum selam." " Dilber!" "Dilber!" " What's happened?" "He's here." " Who's here?" " A man who wants to marry you." "You mean Ali?" "Who is he?" "His name's Mehmet." "Which village is he from?" "He's from the town." "What does he do?" "He's going to tell you the rest himself." "Why?" "He said you should listen and decide for yourself." "Wait, Dilber." "Don't go." "Hear what Mehmet Efendi has to say." "Well, I don't have any family." "My parents died when I was still a child." "I had a grandfather." "He brought me up." "And he died last year." "I'm the caretaker at the town's primary school." "I'm lucky to earn a reasonable amount." "I get by on the minimum wage." "I have social insurance cover at the moment." "It'll soon be five years I've had the job." "We get a pay rise once a year." "I own a house in the town and a vegetable plot outside." "I inherited them from my grandfather." "I hear she doesn't want a wedding." "That's fine by me." "Other things too." "They're fine by me." "I find that perfectly reasonable." "If she's also willing by the will of God and the word of the Prophet I'd like to take your daughter and leave." "Here's the bride price." "It's all the money I've saved." "If you want more, there isn't any." "But if you like I'll sell the house and the land and bring you the money." "That's all very well, but..." "If only you'd come with an elder." "You know as well as I do that's the custom." "I know it's the custom." "I know." "But no one wanted to come with me." "Because they can't take being turned down every time." "Trust me." "If you allow me to marry your daughter I'll look after her well." "I'll see that she's never in need." "I'll do anything she asks." "I'll be both the keeper of the home, the manservant and the master." "I don't go to bars or music taverns." "I don't drink, smoke or gamble." "I don't hang around teahouses." "I don't have many friends." "A roof over my head, a job, a wife and me..." "That's good enough for me." "That's all I have to say." "The rest is for you to decide." "All right, son." "You've convinced me." "The bride price is OK too." "I don't want anything else from you." "I give you my daughter of her own free will." "Well..." "Yes..." "I honestly..." "Can you read and write?" "Yes." "I went to primary school until the fourth year." "Good." "Well..." "This is our house." "Look, there's a three on this door and a three on the door outside." "OK?" "OK." "Memorise that and don't ever forget." "Don't you have electricity in your village?" "No." "They put up the poles and attached the cable." "But the electricity hasn't arrived yet." "It hasn't arrived?" "Look..." "This is the light switch." "Push it up and the lights go off." "Pull it down and the lights go on." "Got that?" "This is the living room." "This is the kitchen." "The bathroom and toilet are in the yard." "Umm..." "And this is the bedroom." "Umm..." "You get yourself ready." "I'll be along in a minute." "Don't cry." "I..." "Can I umm..." "Can I sleep in the living room?" "You sleep here." "I'll sleep in the living room." "OK?" "Good night." "Sleep well." "23 April." "Good mor-ning." "I'm go-ing to work now." "I made a fresh pot of tea." "Have your break-fast." "See you this eve-ning." "Meh-met." "Don't open the door just like that." " Ask who's there first." "All right?" " All right." "It's not the village here." "There's all sorts of people about." "Bad people, thieves, lunatics..." "The other day, they broke into a house in broad daylight, tied up the woman and walked off with her bracelets." "Yes, really." "Anyway, they were caught later." "The blokes weren't even from this town." "They work as gangs now." "Gangs." "They come here from other places, do their thieving and go off again." "Poverty is driving people off the rails." "They even steal those ID bracelets off little children, you know." "Thanks." "Have you cooked anything?" "Yes, I have." "I'll do some rice to go with it." "A friend's coming over tonight with his family to wish us well." "Can you make some yoghurt and cucumber to go with the rice?" "All right." "Come on!" "Won't you have a glass with me, Mehmet?" "No." "You know it disagrees with me." "I won't." "Don't give me that!" "How can raki disagree with you, huh?" "It's medicine, the blessed stuff." "Medicine!" " You can't go without that poison!" " Keep out of this!" "I'm enjoying a couple of rakis here." "Don't ruin it with your nagging!" "Oh, God!" "Do what you like." "Raki or poison, what do I care?" "It's you who'll suffer." "How about putting on some tea to brew?" "Hold on!" "Wait!" "I'll give you a hand." "Then we can have a natter." "Kemal, haven't you had a bit too much to drink?" "I didn't want to say anything in front of Berivan, but she's right." "Look, stop lecturing me, Mehmet." "I've just had a couple of rakis." " Is that so bad?" " Of course not." "Have a whole bottle if you like." "The point is that it doesn't end badly." "Nothing can happen to me!" "Keep a tight rein from the start and later you can't handle these men." "The secret is not to keep a tight rein but to know what you're doing." "Give him some slack sometimes." "Let him have some air, get out and about." "Look, these men don't really go for idle wandering about, let me tell you." "Just as they're about to do the dirty, you pull in the reins." "Leave those reins slack and you're done for." "Let him eye another women just once and you'll be trodden on forever after." "Even if you had a gem, he'd be useless." "These men stop even looking at you!" "Hey, girl!" "Has our mug done the business yet?" " What business, Abla?" " What do you think?" "That business." "Don't you understand?" "Rumpy-pumpy, of course!" "Get moving, damn you!" " Don't push me!" " Shut up and rot in hell!" " Why did you have to drink so much?" " I'll drink if I want." "I'll drink if I want." "I can get home by myself too." "Move!" "Get moving!" "Get off!" "Hey, what's up with the road?" "Why's it sliding about..." "like this?" "24 April" "Leave the cleaning for tomorrow." "I've got away from school early." "We can have dinner early too, can't we?" "Eat up." "I'm not hungry." "Is something troubling you?" "No." " Do you miss your family?" " No." "What's the matter then?" "I'm so bored." "All alone in the house all day." "Sometimes I feel like I'm suffocating." "Look, this is the on-off button." "Press the button..." "And the thing goes off." "Press it again and the thing comes on." "And this is the channel button." "Press the button and it goes to the next channel." "Press this one and it goes back to the previous channel." "Have you got that?" "OK?" "Here." "This is the town square." "That big building is the district governor's office." "But there's still no district governor." "That building there is the police headquarters." "I spent a night there once." "God forbid I have to do that again!" "That's the town hall there." "This is the town's health centre." "That's the town's primary school." "It's the only school, and where I work." "And this is the nicest tea garden in town." "The tea's smuggled Ceylon tea and it's really good." "And this is my..." "Well, now it's our vegetable plot." "The tomatoes, cucumber, aubergine and peppers grown here are dee-licious!" "That's the town's leftie, Yücel Abi." "And this is the town's madman." "Find the truth." "Find the truth." "Find the truth." "Find the truth." "Find the truth, the truth..." "Find the truth, son." "Find the truth." "If you can't find the truth, wait." "It'll find you." "Hey, what are you staring at?" "Asshole!" "Get out of here!" "Piss off!" "And here, this is our town." " Beautiful, isn't it?" " Yes." "Why do you always walk one step behind me?" "Huh?" "Are you ashamed of me?" "Why would I be ashamed of you?" "Then why do you always walk behind me?" "That's the way I was brought up." "My grandmother always walked one step behind my grandfather." "My mother's the same with my father." "I mean, there's no other reason." " There isn't?" " No." "Come here beside me." "From now on always walk beside me." "So we're side by side when we're walking." "OK?" "Come on." "Let's go." "25 April" "Two marriages and two children at the age of just 24." "Despite being so young she's not a happy person." "Emrah is on the streets with a baby less than six weeks old." "Who's going to help her?" "I'm not a bad person." "But I..." "No one's saying you're bad, Emrah." "But I don't want my family because they've been no support." "Who's going to take Emrah under their wing?" "Now for a big surprise live on the program!" "Thank you." "Our number is 0212320..." "And Emrah's..." " Who is it?" " Me, Mehmet." " Come on!" "We're going." " Where?" " To the vegetable plot?" " The vegetable plot?" "Aha." "Come on!" "Stop dawdling." "We need to be back before dark." "Bring along something to eat." "I'll be waiting on the street." " What's this?" " A motorbike." "Where did you get it?" "I borrowed it from Kemal for the day." "Come on!" "Jump in the sidecar." "Let's go." " In here?" " Jump in!" "26 April" "Good mor-ning, prin-cess of my soul." "To-day is clean-ing day at the school." "I have to leave ear-ly." "Sor-ry..." "Meh-met." "P.S. It would be real-ly nice if you made bean stew to-night." "Good morning, princess of my soul..." "Good morning, princess of my soul..." "Princess of my soul..." " Take it easy there!" " Thanks, Abla." "Welcome." "Ooh!" "I'm exhausted." "For the love of the dead make me a coffee, will you?" "Of course, Abla." "I'll do that right away." "Look, look!" "Right there!" "Like I said, you have a long journey ahead." "But what kind of journey, I can't say." "Because there's nothing to tell me." "I'd say in two days, maybe three, you'll hear from someone you love." "But I'm not one to tell lies, you know." "It's bad news this." "Is it from the village or somewhere far away?" "I don't know." "There's something covering it up." "You can't see what's underneath." "Goodness." "I don't suppose it's news from home, is it?" "I've no idea." "But it could be." "I told you, there's a black cloud hiding what's underneath." "Hey!" "There's an eye there!" "Look, look!" "It's an evil eye what's more!" "He can't take his eyes off you!" "See him staring at you like that?" "Who could that be?" "Well, Mehmet." "It's Mehmet!" "He's standing on that gammy leg staring at you with those dark eyes." "Staring at you like an owl!" "I left something on the stove." "I should go and check on it." "For the love of the dead, get me a glass of water, will you?" "Drink poison!" "Thanks." "It's really delicious." "Hope you enjoy it." "Berivan Abla came by today." "What did she want?" "Nothing." "She just dropped by." "Good." " I can't get to like Berivan Abla." " Why not?" "I don't know." "She's a bit strange." "Berivan Abla's a good person." "Ignore her... being so pushy." "She has ideas a bit above her station, that's all." "You know what?" "You're a really good man." "Look what I bought you." "Thanks." "Open it up." "It's lovely." "Put it on." "27 April" " We got soaked!" " Yes." "Soaked." "Shall I bring you a towel?" "No, there's one in the bedroom." "Are you going to bed?" "Aha..." "I think I will." "You?" "Yes, me too." "I'm off to the vegetable plot early tomorrow morning." "The rain will have done some damage there." "OK." "OK." "Good night." "Sleep well." "You too." "Who on earth is that?" "At this time of night..." "Let me just go and see who it is." "Yes, my friend?" "Why have you come here?" "I'm talking to you, Ali." "Why have you come here?" "I..." "I've come to take you away." "Forgive me." "I..." "I didn't want it to be like this." "It's all..." "It's all my father's fault." "That promise of his was a disaster both for me, for you and for Hatice." "I got married." "But it's hopeless." "I..." "I can't forget you." "I..." "I can't be without you." "I can't live without you." "I've come to take you away." "Let's get away from here." "Huh?" "Let's go." "I'm married." "Can't you see?" "That's OK." "You can get divorced." "Let's go." "No!" "I beg you." "Let's go." "Come on." "Get out of here!" "And don't come back again." "I can't go." "Go, I said." " I can't." " Go!" " I can't!" " Get out of here, I said!" "I can't!" "Come on, she told you to go." "Are you deaf?" "Get out of my way!" "Out of my way!" "Or I'll kill you." "I swear to God I will!" "Get moving!" "We're going." "I'm not coming." "Get moving!" "Stay away or I'll shoot." "Stay away!" "Stay away, I said!" "Stay away!" "Stay away, I said." "Stay away, I said." "Stay away, I said." "Stay away, I said." "Stay away, I said." "Stay away, I said." "Stay away, I said." "Did you love Ali?" "Yes." "So what about Mehmet?" "Did you love him?" "Yes, I loved him too." "Anything else?" "Anything else?" "Do you have anything else to say?" "EIGHT DAYS IN THE LIFE OF DÝLBER" "For Zeynep"