Hopes of Marriage
I know I told her something like: I like you or maybe I showed her I loved her but I never said it. She was middle-aged and a bit plump. She must have cherished hopes of marriage. I went to the balcony of our mud house when I heard somebody shouting from below. There she was in a white blouse and a black skirt standing on the piece of no man’s land below.

She said angrily in a loud voice: You told me you liked me but then I heard you were married. Now I want to give you the books I bought for you. She was holding six of them in her hands. Two were A4 size and the rest were pocket books. She looked up at me and began throwing them up one by one. I had all of them in my hands now.

I said wait a minute I will come downstairs to meet you. I don’t know what you mean. I hurried to the stairs, left the house but found myself in a labyrinth of very narrow mud ways some leading to nowhere. Somewhere there was a soldier who ordered me not to take the way he was blocking. It took me more than half an hour to find myself next to the no man’s land and stopped. I heard voices on the balcony saying: Oh thanks God we found you. We thought you were lost. I was happy to know I was after all not lost and said please wait for me to come back. It might take me some time to get to you.

Jamshid

Bremen, 12 July 2009