Siro by David Ignatius (short books to read txt) 📕

“Why? I was just trying to cheer you up.”

“It was what you said about Turkish women. You sounded like a predator. Like a Westerner who’s been let loose in the harem and wants to fuck everything in sight.”

Taylor tried to look apologetic. “I’m sorry if I sounded that way. I don’t want to fuck everything in sight. I’m much more particular. And anyway, I’m not the harem type.”

“How do you know?”

Taylor looked at her curiously, wondering if this was a come-on, or a setup. “Is this a trick question?” he asked.

“Not at all. It’s a question of historical interest.”

“Okay. So what was it like?”

“What?” Anna closed her eyes coyly.

“The harem. What was it like?” Taylor looked Anna up and down. “How did they dress, for example, the women in the harem?”

She leaned toward him. “They dressed,” she said softly, “to please the sultan. Their clothes were all soft and filmy, with nothing to really cover the body. A loose blouse; loose linen drawers tied around the waist with a string; and a silk gown that was open in front so they could never quite cover themselves.”

“I see. And did they have any unusual customs? Historically speaking.”

Anna thought a moment. “They shaved their bodies.”

“So? Women do that now.”

“No. I mean all over. Everywhere.”

“Everywhere?” said Taylor, his eyes falling to Anna’s crotch.

“Everywhere,” she said, with a look that was half smile and half frown. “Someone called the Keeper of the Baths would take the woman and shave her all over, and then apply some paste to remove any hairs that were left. Then a slave girl would examine her body, every inch, to make sure it was smooth. And then they would perfume her with rose petals. The woman would sit naked on the floor of the bath while slave girls rubbed her with petals—in her hair, on her neck and shoulders, across her breasts, between her legs, around her toes and ankles.”

“Shocking,” said Taylor softly. He closed his eyes and took a breath. He was imagining what Anna would look like naked in bed, covered with rose petals.

“But that wasn’t the oddest thing.”

“Oh yeah? What was the oddest?” Taylor wasn’t sure whether she was expressing indignation, or being flirtatious, or perhaps some weird combination of the two.

“The worst thing was how they made the woman get into bed.”

“And how was that, pray tell?”

“They made her crawl. The Ottomans thought it would be disrespectful if a woman just got into bed next to a man. She might get ideas! So the rule was that she would start at the foot of the bed, kissing the blanket, and then creep slowly up past the feet and legs toward the man’s head. Isn’t that bizarre?”

“Bizarre,” repeated Taylor.

“But you’re not like that, are you?”

“No. I’m not. I like women. I don’t want them to be slave girls. I like women the way they are.”

“Do you?”

“Try me.” Taylor put his arm gently around Anna and pulled her toward him. Her body offered no resistance. He bent down and kissed her on the lips; not with his tongue, but tenderly. He could feel her body trembling as he held her. Then she caught hold of herself again and sat up straight.

“You want to screw me, don’t you?”

“Yes,” said Taylor. “Is that all right?”

“I don’t know. We’re supposed to work together.”

“So?”

“So women have to be tough. They can’t just give in to every attractive man who comes along. Otherwise they end up like those used-up women in the harem. You know where the old concubines were sent when a new sultan took over? It was called the House of Tears.”

“Why? You’d have thought they’d be glad to get out of the racket.”

“Not at all. These women weren’t prostitutes, they were artists. They studied seduction and dreamed of bearing the sultan’s child. But only the most beautiful and clever really captured his attention. The ones who did had power and status, and money. Some of them invested in real estate, or the silk trade, or the jewel business. But they were careful, these women. They knew how to wait.”

“So they hated to leave the harem?”

“They hated to be powerless. And seduction was power. There was one famous harem girl named Roxelana who actually convinced the sultan she could read his mind. She could even make him laugh! He fell so completely in love with her that he gave up the rest of his harem and married her.”

“Who was this sultan?”

“Suleyman the Magnificent. The greatest and wisest of all.”

“What about the bad sultans? What were they like?”

“They were disgusting, some of them. You don’t want to know.”

“Sure I do. Maybe I’ll pick up a few pointers.”

“Don’t joke,” she said. “If you really want to know how crazy men can be, then I’ll tell you a story. But it’s not funny.”

“Okay,” said Taylor.

“Back in the seventeenth century, one of the sultans was said to have a favorite game. He would take his concubines to the gardens of the seraglio. The eunuchs would lay carpets over the nearby trees and bushes so that people couldn’t see in, and the sultan would make the women undress and stand naked in front of him. And what do you suppose he would do next? He would take his musket and shoot pellets at the women, which aroused him. Then he would take the women and fuck them.”

Taylor turned away. She was right. It wasn’t funny.

“This same sultan had another game. Want to hear it?”

Taylor didn’t answer.

“He would take his harem girls and make them stand naked in an empty pool in the gardens. Then he would have a eunuch open the water pipes and a torrent of water would rush in on top of the women. Most of them couldn’t swim, so they would bob up and down screaming. The ones that didn’t drown, he would fuck.”

Taylor reached for her gently. At first she resisted, but her body gradually relaxed and she let Taylor hold her, and comfort her, and