How It Felt

MILI PRAYED for death for the dog. One moment the creature, dazzled by the headlights, was in front of their four-by-four, the next he was flung on the side of the road, an addition to the dead in the roadside graveyards along the Miranshah–Boya road. Salam alikum ya ahlal quboor, she whispered. Peace to the people of those graves. And the dog.

She knew chances were that death would not be instantaneous, and she protested, at first. We have to stop, she said, but was relieved when her husband didn't. What