The Days without Mirror (Part 20)

In March 1998, the Air Force and the Department of Prisoner of War phoned me and said, ‘Most likely Hossein Lashgari will be repatriated on April 1998.’ I did not travel on that Nowruz holidays. Wherever I went, returned home very soon to be in access in case they rang me. Until the 6th of April, at 8:30 am, the air force called and told me, ‘Mrs. Lashgari, do praying, we’re going to do negotiation.

The Days without Mirror (Part 19)

In less than a month, I was contacted by the Air Force. It was fourth or fifth of June, 1995. The Department of Prisoner of War and Missing in Action announced that the Red Cross has seen Hossein Lashgari and allowed him to write a letter. I did not believe. I thought that it started again, hopefulness and then hopelessness. But this time, Hossein really sent a letter. My hand shook when I was handed his letter;

The Days without Mirror (Part 18)

In the summer of 1988, after The Resolution was adopted, the whisper of POWs repatriation spread like wildfire. At the new house, Ravadgar family was our neighbor in the first floor. Mr. Ravadgar was one of POWs. The Red Cross had enrolled his name and he wrote letter for his wife and children. Mr. Ravadgar and his wife, Nasrin, had a girl and a boy.

The Days without Mirror (Part 17)

One year before Ali reached school-age, my older brother talked to my father: ‘It is not good for Manijeh and Ali to live more with you. How long these conditions last is unclear.’ It was difficult for my father to digest this issue; he declined. But my brother spoke with him at different times. ‘Manijeh has to stand on her foot.’ he said, ‘she should live in her own home. It helps to accept her life as it is.’

The Days without Mirror (Part 16)

Twenty days passed. Every morning I woke up hoping to turn on the TV and heard that the war has been over. Days were slow and long. As if there was no passage of moments. In the morning, when I woke up, thought: Oh my God, when it is noon. And at noon, I felt why the night does not come. I constantly cried, either when I was among family members, or secretly in a corner of house.

The Days without Mirror (Part 15)

The next night, I had sat beside the phone from 20:00 pm. Each time it was rang, I picked receiver by the first ring, hoping it would be Hossein. It was 21:00, 22:00, and 23:00 pm, but Hossein did not call. I got nervous. I kept phoning the battalion up, but nobody picked the receiver. It was impossible nobody was in the battalion, but the phone was not answered.

The Days without Mirror (Part 14)

We had bought a beautiful cradle for Ali. I dressed him with colorful short-sleeve blouses and shorts; and an hour before Hossein came home, I placed the cradle behind the entrance door. I turned on the air conditioner in bedroom, but turned off the one in the salon, in order the baby did not get cold. All the windows and doors had a screen, because there were a lot of snakes and scorpions and lizards in Khuzestan.

The Days without Mirror (Part 13)

After four days, I was discharged from hospital and retuned home. I spent ten days resting at home. Hosseins parents and his sister came to my fathers house. On the tenth day of my delivery, a big party was held to which all the family and relatives were invited. During the period of improvement, the date of our monthly Rawda khwani ceremony came. It was began from morning until 12:00 at noon and five preachers came and went.

The Days without Mirror (Part 12)

Three or four months had passed from our arrival to the base, when Hossein got two weeks leave. It was the best time to go to Tehran. Hossein got train ticket and we headed. At night, in the train, we and an old doctor who was the physician of the air base, were at the same compartment. All the pilots knew him. When supper was served, Hossein insisted me to eat but I did not. I had no appetite. I kept standing behind the window. I needed to breathe fresh air.

The Days without Mirror (Part 11)

In my father house, at noon, when it was close he arrived home, samovar was boiling and the tea was brewed, if it was winter. At least one kind of washed winter fruit was in a dish on the table. If it was summer, a pitcher full of ice and hedge-mustard sharbat and sekanjabin with cold watermelon and honey-melon were on the table. My father knew these as a sign of his ...