When Aziza first spotted Mariam in the morning$$$ her eyes always sprang open$$$ and she began mewling and squirming in her mother's grip. She thrust her arms toward Mariam$$$ demanding to be held$$$ her tiny hands opening and closing urgently$$$ on her face a look of both adoration and quivering anxiety..."Why have you pinned your little heart to an old$$$ ugly hag like me?" Mariam would murmur into Aziza's hair... "What have I got to give you?"But Aziza only muttered contentedly and dug her face in deeper. And when she did that$$$ Mariam swooned. Her eyes watered. Her heart took flight. And she marveled at how$$$ after all these years of rattling loose$$$ she had found in this little creature the first true connection in her life of false$$$ failed connections.