Strange Times, My Dear by Nahid Mozaffari

Author:Nahid Mozaffari [Mozaffari, Nahid]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-61145-585-4
Publisher: Arcade Publishing
Published: 2011-01-13T05:00:00+00:00

That night, when the old woman returned home she went straight to Mahbubeh’s dark room. She turned on the light, but when she saw the crazed look on Mahbubeh’s face and her clothes in tatters, she ran away terrified. The following day the sergeant was back, this time accompanied by his mother. Mahbubeh was still as the old woman had found her the night before. The sergeant ordered her to “snap out of it” and “stop playacting.” Then he slapped her until the flood gate of tears broke open. Mahbubeh cried until exhaustion overtook her. The crone and her son left the house, never to be seen again.

When Mahbubeh opened her eyes it was still dark outside, and the light was on inside the room. She saw a woman sitting in the middle of the floor, peering into a mirror she had taken off the shelf, applying kohl to her eyes. “Who are you?” Mahbubeh asked.

The woman had a pleasant laugh. “Who do you think I should be? I’m your aunt, Hajar.”

“You’re supposed to be dead. Your husband cut you to pieces.”

Hajar shrugged. “Such is the way of the world. So what are you going to do about it? Are you going to just sit and wait until they cut you to pieces, too?”

Mahbubeh was about to say, “I don’t do the things the likes of you do,” but she bit her tongue and remained silent.

Hajar said, “When your good-for-nothing husband comes home, tell him what the sergeant did to you. Let him eat his heart out.”

“But what will he do to me if I tell him?”

“He’ll chop you to pieces. Tell me, do you like the way I’ve done my eyes?”

“I can’t see. My eyes are burning. I’m tired.” She fell back asleep.

When she awoke in the morning, she put the mirror back on the shelf, gathered up her makeup from the floor, and told herself, “I’ll tell him. May he burn in hell.” Calmly, she put on several layers of makeup.

But her husband was brought home that day wrapped up in a bloody blanket, his bones all broken. His truck had gone over a cliff, and he had gone flying into the mouth of death.

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