This sets the setting and introduces many of the characters. It can be read and enjoyed as a stand-alone story, but deeper character depth and the effects of the plots, twists and turns of Asma's sexual life will be found by reading the full series to come
Asma left the Sunni mosque in Melbourne's western suburbs. In the minority for Pakistani women she was wearing the full head-to-toe black burqa as she originally came from the northwest city of Peshawar, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Under her black burqa she wore a long firaq which reached from her shoulders to mid-calf and baggy partug pants. She was 42 years old, married to her husband, Afsar who was 10 years older, and blessed with 3 wonderful children.
Her eldest daughter, Rubina, was 22 and recently married. Certainly, an old age to be married back home, but a young age here in Australia where customs were different and late 20s was more common for a daughter. Her younger daughter, Samreen, was 20 and attending Victoria University studying Accounting. True, it was not Melbourne or Monash or even Latrobe University, but she had a career ahead of her. Something that would not have occurred back in Pakistan, and she thought how she and Samreen had needed to plead with her husband Afsar to allow their daughter to attend. It was against his beliefs for women to be educated, mix with males or dress in a modern style. Her youngest child, her son Ashraf was 18, in year 12 at school, academically gifted and certain to gain entry to the prestigious Melbourne University.
Asma daydreamed as she walked to the bus stop close to the mosque, imagining her tallish body not constrained and hidden by layers of traditional, voluminous clothing, but flaunted and displayed like the Vietnamese women she had seen at the Footscray market or driving their 4WDs. The thought would have offended her deceased father and now Asfar as both were extremely traditional Pakistani Muslims. The Vietnamese women wore extreme high heels, short, tight dresses that brazenly paraded not only their lower legs, but their thighs as well. Instead of draped loosely in layers like hers, their garments were moulded to their skin, and if you looked carefully you could see the outline of their thong disappearing into their arse crack or the shape and sometimes even the colours of their nipples. Not only the young ones like her daughters, but women of a similar age or even 15 years older than her openly exhibited their bodies. She could never do that.
Perhaps there was some Iran blood in her from way back in the past as her skin was on the lighter side compared to many other Pakistanis. She was a tall 5ft 7, had a longer face than many of the Indians over the border which was highlighted with dark, memorising eyes and prominent eyebrows. Her nose was sharp and gave her an aristocratic look. She had nicely shaped 34 tits, a slightly rounded belly and a womanly arse that was still firm. Many said she reminded them of Pakistan's first female president, Benazir Bhutto. Moreover, like most women from the subcontinent she had a full mat of pubic hair. Attractive for her age? Yes, but it did not matter with her husband's lack of interest in her.
Life was so different to back home. The Vietnamese had changed after arriving as refugees. Would she? She shuddered at the thought. The family had arrived 4 years ago by the traditional route. They had saved their money, bought a flight to Indonesia, then contacted the people smugglers, destroyed their passports paid the money for a seat on a fishing boat, been intercepted by the Australian navy and taken for processing at Christmas Island which, was closer to Indonesia than Australia but gave them sanctuary and finally, processing for entry to Australia.
It was good for the children. It gave them opportunities but not for her husband Afsar. Due to his age and being wedded to the old ways he didn't want to change, didn't want to work. He sat back and accepted the Government fortnightly handout paid directly into his bank account and enjoyed his cheap government subsidised housing. He was a traditionalist. A woman's place was in the house keeping it clean and feeding him. Each night after eating he left the house to go to the coffee and hookah shop where he and his male friends opiniated how western society was corrupting their children, taking away a father's authority and status. They were continuing the endless discussion from hours, even days before as he was there for up to 10 hours each day. Why had he come in the first place if only to complain, Asma thought bitterly. Did he not remember the hardships and reasons they left?
And in sex he was a traditionalist. A wife was for producing children, and once she was pregnant nothing further happened under the sheets until another child was needed. It was now 12 years since they had last fucked, if you could call the 5 minutes that it took that of which 3 minutes were him undressing. Though it was long ago she still remembered the incredibly thick cock he possesed. A short missionary union till he came with no thought of her needs. His real pleasure had been the whores he visited regularly back home, and many of her friends had told her he was a frequent visitor to the hairdresser and massage shops here. I bet the Vietnamese women get it every night, and probably also outside their marriages, she thought.
God she was frustrated and horny these days, but luckily she had her faith to support her. Although the other day when she was house cleaning her son Ashraf was showering and had left the door open. His body was muscular and lean, and he was fisting his cock before groaning and shooting a strand of semen to the wall. Since that time, she had been masturbating, sometimes reliving what she had seen before she managed to force it from her mind.
She smiled as she recalled her one recent change though. As part of a new Government initiative, she and other mature aged refugees including those from Iran, Afghanistan and the most recent wave, the Sudanese had been granted entry to the third-rate Victoria University. She had selected Accounting, the same as her daughter. Afsar was furious and threatened to refuse to let her attend. "It's not fitting for a woman to do this. You must be at home. That is your place," he had bellowed. But the offer had come with strings attached: declining the offer meant their government pension would be cut by a third. The thought of losing this free money was too much for Afsar and so she would be attending University.
Besides, she took comfort in the fact that her daughter was also in the same University and perhaps they would study together and become close again, Something in her daughter's attitude had changed since they had come to Melbourne and Samreen was now distant, abrupt and impersonal. It was almost as though she was hiding something, but Asma was conflicted. She was not used to intruding into her daughter's new life here in Australia. Things were different here and maybe Samreen's inner beliefs had changed from her contact with other students at school and University. Furthermore, she had appeared unhappy that her mother was now at the same University, but Asma was still convinced that she would find a way to bond with her daughter. Now she could spend time with her daughter away from home, as well as meeting other refugee women. Her new life was about to begin.
The next day she alighted from the bus at Victoria University. She was, as usual, wearing her burqa. First the new students attended a meeting in the Grand Hall where a speech was given by the Chancellor, a Romanian refugee from the 90s, Marija Poposky. They were seated alphabetically so that the roll could be marked. Next to Asma was a Vietnamese woman, Ai Ngo, as Asma's family name was Nasir. She was mid-forties, slightly older than Asma and dressed as though going to a nightclub, not University. Something that made Asma both uncomfortable and slightly jealous. However, both women talked excitedly about what was to come. Ai proved harder to get rid of than flies at an Aussie BBQ and chattered on and on. When they found they were doing the same subjects, Ai signed the two of them up for the same tutorials so they would know someone and not feel lost. Then, when she found Asma did not drive, she offered to drive her to and from University as they now had identical schedules. Reluctantly Asma said her husband would not allow it as Ai was not known to him and was not a Muslim, but Ai would not be deterred and said she would pick up Asma and set her down at the bus stop near Asma's house.
By the weeks end the two were getting along very well. There were no other students from Pakistan, and Asma had learnt that Ai came from Communist North Vietnam. Once her accent showed that, she was excluded from any group of the mature aged South Vietnamese students as they still carried grudges from the war and subsequent Northern Victory in the 1970s. Further discussion revealed that Ai had two daughters Yen 24, who was a hairdresser, and Lien 18 who like her son was studying year 12. When some of the other women had tried to bully Asma it was Ai who flew to her defence standing up for her and abusing the others.
The morning lecture finished and the two headed for the cafeteria. Back home University studies for a married woman would have been forcibly discouraged and across the border in Afghanistan the Taliban may have killed her, but Asma had discovered she enjoyed her studies and was in fact very good at them. She was helping Ai who was struggling and had even lost the guilt she first had of studying at University and associating with a non- Muslim who dressed as Ai did.