We Heard the Heavens Then by Aria Minu-Sepehr

Author:Aria Minu-Sepehr
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Free Press

In autumn the American school announced its closure. A teary Miss Lisa informed us we would finish the rest of fifth grade in America. There was only one person to whom that pronouncement didn’t apply, and as soon as she spoke, I felt all eyes land on me. Miss Lisa couldn’t hold back her tears. She looked at me apologetically, and a lava of grief welled up in my throat.

There was an America that was a superpower, that could send men to the moon, restore failed monarchs, and make Coca-Cola a household name. And there was an America that wore T-shirts and jeans and its heart on its sleeve. Without a doubt, individual Americans represented the latter, and Iranians played the role of gracious host. When Miss Lisa shed tears, she suggested it was our countries’ failed relationship, the goodwill of one people for another caught in the crossfire of grand schemes that was sending my classmates out of my country, leaving me behind.

Soon, the last day of school arrived and I walked around in some sort of daze as though the only way to deal with the disaster was to forestall the feeling. It was only with such emotional distance that I had the fortitude to hug Miss Lisa and to say goodbye to my classmates and to Brooke, the blonde whose steely, confident eyes and tomboy brazenness I’d kept in my thoughts throughout grade school. Secretly, I had dedicated a good number of my drawings of cars or soldiers or airplanes “to Brooke.” Mr. Jim’s parting words and three-part handshake lightened my mood. “Don’t forget the moves I showed you on your bike. Right? Tell the general to keep it loose.”

Following Mr. K to the car, I left the American school and all its inhabitants behind me. I peered out from the backseat over a city saddened with soldiers, guns, scrappy little cars speeding past spewing black smoke into the air, and depressed-looking pickups, their beds crammed with dirty sheep. That evening I grappled with Mr. Jim’s message for my father. Was it better to convey it verbatim or translate it? Baba, my physical education teacher said that you should maintain slackness? Maybe it was better to try to capture the intended meaning. But what did he mean? I could just hear my mother, You mean to say someone tells you to tell your father such a thing and you receive it like a clueless turnip? Most exemplary! Well done! Next time someone says such filth to you, you say, Tell your aunt to hold it loose.

In the end I determined it was more prudent to bury the comment with the turmoil of the day.

“How was school today?” my mother asked over a somber dinner.

“Good. I said goodbye to everyone and they went to America.” And that was exactly how it happened; as soon as we said our goodbyes, America pulled out of Iran—nowhere to be found again.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.