Walking home with unsteady steps, a sentence echoed in his mind: "We'll execute twenty of these damn communist next week. You better keep your mouth shut if you want to stay free. We'll be watching you." That was the last thing he was told before they dropped him off the car.
Being fearful, he waited one week and finally decided to call Van's mother. Being afraid to call from his home, that night in a welcome party in his sister's home, twenty kilometers away from his house, after dinner, he left the house and walked to a pay phone in the square close by and made the call. He could feel the pain of Van's mother when they talked, and he even was ashamed that he was not allowed to tell her anything about her son. All he said to Gol was about Van's letter. How could he tell the crying mother that twenty of those political prisoners had already been executed, or would be soon?! To respond to Gol's unclear questions, he repeatedly gave her hope. While he was terrified to meet Van's mother, for she would certainly be anxious and upset, and most definitely would ask him many questions which he was not allowed to answer, he did not know how to get the letter to her. That thought left him no choice but to involve his brother-in-law. He promised that his sister's husband would give the letter to her in two hours in the bus station in P. square; a place far from his home, Van's home, and his sister's home.
Gol and Hana met Farshid's brother-in-law in the bus station. No words were exchanged. He left the crushed toilet paper on the bench and disappeared. Hana immediately picked it up and put in in her purse.
By morning the words of the letter were read many times by mother and daughter, The solitary widow stared at her son's hand writing that had changed tremendously, and repeated the words on the letter all day. Hana missed work and college that day just to watch her mother; while she had this strong conviction that the real disaster would be ahead. They had no way to contact Farshid since he had left them no number or address. Hamid visited them that day when he heard about the letter. He called his uncle. In a couple of hours, Amir, Hamid's uncle came to their house to face the crying mother and children. He did not have the heart to tell them that twenty of the prisoners were executed yesterday. Hoping that van was not among them, Amir told Hamid of what he knew. He also told him that he could get the list of those twenty from his friend.
Their sudden departure made Hana and Gol suspicious, but even to Hana's repeated questions in the alley, Hamid shook his head and ignored her.
Hana instinctively knew something had to be wrong. Hamid and his uncle's behavior did not sound right. How could she find out? An hour later, secretly she called Amir's house and talked to his wife. He was not home. His wife said that she was expecting him any minute. Hana asked their address and without answering her questions, said:
"I am coming there."
"What is wrong?" Jila, Amir's wife asked, but the phone was dead.
To Be Continued
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