(I don't usually comment on the daily news feed. But then, some days we are...force fed.)
The Traveler
He wonders, what did I do wrong? Should I have realized that this was a risky time, what with all the threats coming out of Tehran and Washington? Should I have postponed my trip, even though my aunt in Isfahan is not getting any younger and may not be around much longer? Was there something wrong in the way I answered their questions in the windowless side room at Imam Khomeini Airport? Would it have been any different had I flown into Mehrabad? A thousand questions, in order to avoid asking the only important question: Will I make it home alive?
The Interrogator
He does not like this job, but it is a job. Most of the young men in his family are unemployed, even the ones with university degrees. It could be worse; he could be one of the guys who work in the back end of Evin Prison, the ones who can use (in fact, who are encouraged to use) any technique they can think up -- just like in the old days under the Shah. But still, his job is boring and tedious. The "right" answers rarely come, nor are they necessarily required, if the bosses decide to proceed with a prosecution. At least he is serving the Revolution, which seems to be getting off track lately.
The Motorcylist
He throttles down, partly to avoid having his wheels catch the edge of the joob (a open drainage ditch bedside the roadway, sometimes 5 feet deep), partly so not to alert their target. He approaches the car, parked beside an apartment building in North Tehran. His companion readies the device, so that it can be affixed to the car's side panel, just behind the driver's side door, and they can roar away before anyone in the car or on the street has time to react. They will be out of blast range at the crucial moment, ideally with no one having gotten a good look at them.
The Scientist
He thinks about the meetings he has scheduled for the afternoon, about going home to have lunch with his wife. He will change out of his office trousers and into comfortable, pajama-bottom-like shalvor, while she brings his tea -- served in a small glass, accompanied by the irregular lumps of sugar called qand. He will place the qand behind his teeth and sip the hot, flavorful tea through it. They will talk about the children, how they're doing in school. He hears a slight "click" on the side of the car, before he hears nothing...ever again.
The Marine
He feels oddly ecstatic, though he's not sure whether it is their victory in the skirmish, or just the fact that he's alive, when he didn't necessarily expect to be. Though buoyed by the "win," he's also still jittery, hopped up on battle adrenalin. And, there is the bitter rage that bubbled up inside him when he saw his bunkmate get it in the head, not eight feet from where he was crouched. Taking a leak has always been "the pause that refreshes" but it never felt as good as this. Take that, he murmurs, as a crooked smile splits his face.
The Talib
He looks down on his now-useless earthly body, which he had put so much effort into building up. Now, he is beyond being surprised by anything that human beings might do. Still, it doesn't feel right, to see the khareji, the foreigners, desecrating the body that Allah had given him to use. He wonders whether his family members will see the pictures the other young man is taking. He muses about what his brothers in Islam will do when they see it. They will take offense, he knows. They may be energized by this new insult to our honor. It may lead to more killing.
Comprehension Quiz
Which of these is a child of God?
0 The Traveler
0 The Interrogator
0 The Motorcylist
0 The Scientist
0 The Marine
0 The Talib
0 All of the above
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