"I'm sorry, Suzi, but whatever you all keep looking for in my eyes just isn't there anymore," I said calmly. "Maybe it will come back when I remember ...ore, but right now I'd much rather not have to wait through another emotional scene before we go over to Joey's."She stiffened from my words, then after she closed her eyes for a few moments, she started the car and pulled out without making a single sound."By the way," I said after a long period of silence. "Joey said a few things to me before. "I think we have a flat tire," I responded. "I am having a really hard time trying to steer." What do we do now?" Erica asked."Well, I can't stop here on this busy street. I will have to pull off onto one of these side streets and we can figure it out from there." Slowly, I managed to steer the van to the side of the road and drive to the next intersection. Traffic was beginning to build behind us, and I could hear the horns of the impatient drivers encouraging me to go faster. I had no idea. .”“So no matter what I say, I will still be expelled and sent to Mecca?”“Yes, to put it bluntly.”“So then what’s the point in saying anything?”“Allah will hear you. That’s the point.”“Doesn’t Allah already know what I’m about to say?”“Yes, Allah knows everything, but he is waiting to hear your apology to this committee and this university for betraying the faith.”“And how did I betray the faith?”“By what you shouted in the administration building, in the president’s own office. Don’t play games. Rather like examining the creative process or love, something is lost when you strip away the layers. But I was aware enough to realise that behind my fantasy lay two contributing factors. The first was that I was probably keen to share my wife through a primitive need to display my wealth. In this view she is my treasure and only by sharing her do other men appreciate what I have. The second motivation was related to removing, or undoing her level of self-control. Where else can you really.