Daughter of Sheena (15)

Behnaz Zarrabizadeh

Daughter of Sheena-15
Memories of Qadamkheyr Mohammadi Kanaan
Wife of Sardar Shaheed Haj Sattar Ebrahimi Hajir
Memory writer: Behnaz Zarrabizadeh
Tehran, Sooreh Mehr Publications Company, 2011 (Persian Version)
Translated by Zahra Hosseinian

A few days later I told to my sister-in-law that I am pregnant. Khadija broke this news to my mother. They did not anymore allow me to be alone a moment.
Samad came back home a month later. He was jumping with joy, when I told him I am pregnant. He didn’t allow me not to lift a hand, a few days he was at home. At the same time he bought a piece of land from my sister, four thousand and five hundred Rials. We both were very happy. “My work at Tehran will be finished soon.” Samad said, “I won’t work there anymore. I’ll come back and we will start building our own house.”
Samad returned in early summer. We both rolled up our sleeves and started building our house. He was a master builder and I was his worker. His brother, Teymoor, came to help us shortly after.
It was a hot summer. Incidentally, it was Ramadan too. Still, I was both helping Samad in building our house and fasting.
One day Khadija and I went to a public bath. Returning from bathroom, I felt ill. I had been suffering from heatstroke and dying of thirst. Although Khadija poured cool water on my head and face, but it was of no avail. I laid in the corner of room sickly. Khadija insisted that I must break my fast. I felt ill, but I didn’t accept it.
She said: "I'm going to tell Mr. Samad to take you to hospital.”
Samad was working on the building. I said, "No ... he is fasting too. Leave him. I’ll be fine soon."
A few minutes elapsed. Not only I didn’t feel good but also I got worse. Khadija insisted: "let’s break your fast until you haven’t make life difficult for yours and your baby.”
I refused. "I’ll be fine, if I sleep." I said. Khadija who was worried about me, said: "It's your call. It is not my business! In the future, when you give birth to a retarded baby, you will wish you had listened to my words.”
I had my heart in my mouth as she said this; but again I refused. I say to myself that if I break my fast, my baby becomes irreligious.
Khadija threw her Chador over her head and went toward door to fetch Samad, when I got worse and my hand and feet started trembling.
I said, "Don’t tell anything to Samad. It’s terrifying him. Ok, I break my fast, but on one condition.”
"What condition?” Khadija who had eased up slightly, said.
"You too must break your fast.” I said.
Open-mouthed, Khadija stared at me. Her eyes had been in open-eyed astonishment. "You really are in bad condition,” she said, “Why should I break my fast?”
I said, "Either we both break our fast, or I eat nothing.”
First Khadija lingered on. I was fainting. I felt giddy. My whole body had frozen and trembled. Khadija ran toward kitchen. She cooked fried eggs with ghee and two eggs. She also brought bread and edible herbs. My hands and feet became numb and I felt pangs of hunger, as I smelled at fried eggs. Khadija held a morsel in front of my mouth.
I pulled back my head and said: "No, first you eat.”
Khadija had been annoyed. She screamed: "What’s wrong with you. You're pregnant and dying, why should I break my fast?”
I had felt like crying. I said, "Khadija! for goodness’s sake, for the sake of me, please eat.”
Khadija suddenly put the morsel in her mouth and said, "Now your mind at ease. Do you eat now?”
My hands and feet were shaking. Seeing Khadija emboldened me. I took a piece of bread and ate the first morsel of fried eggs. Then I ate next morsels.
When I felt full and came to life; I looked at Khadija, and she looked at me in return. Our lips glistened.
"Now if someone sees us, they understand we’ve broken our fast.” I said.
First Khadija cleaned her lips with her Chador and then I did. But our lips became redder and shinier, as we rubbed them to be clean. There was no choice. We scraped a bit of plaster of wall and rubbed it on our lips. Then we cleaned our lips with our Chador again. It was a good idea. No one understood that we have broken our fast.

To be continued…