Da (Mother) 42

The Memoirs of Seyyedeh Zahra Hoseyni

The woman Zeynab took the children by the hand and we got under way. It was getting dark by the time we reached the Sheikh Salman Mosque. People from the neighborhood and those in the mosque came forward gathering around us. All the aunts came by to embrace mother and the children, kissing them and offering their condolences. All of them were weeping. The mother of Reza said, “The last time ...

Da (Mother) 41

The Memoirs of Seyyedeh Zahra Hoseyni

Then they brought a stretcher and put father on it. Salarvand, Parvizpur, the body washers, three of fathers coworkers at the mayors office, a few soldiers and local militia all accompanied the body. It was a strange sight taking him to the grave. Usually when somebody was lost, the deceaseds entire family was on hand for the burial, but today not one of fathers many relatives was there. Not even grandfather, ...

Da (Mother) 40

The Memoirs of Seyyedeh Zahra Hoseyni

I took his hand and put it on my head wanting to have him caress me, but he would not. I could not believe he was gone. I placed my head on his chest, hoping to hear his heart beating. I told myself they had probably made a mistake; maybe he was not dead, but his heart did not respond. I was powerless. I opened the lower part of the shroud and knelt down to kiss his feet, ...

Da (Mother) 39

The Memoirs of Seyyedeh Zahra Hoseyni

Nearing the children, we could see that Hoseyn was dragging a stick along the ground, and Hasan, holding Zeynabs hand, seemed pale, even sickly. It was clear from Mansurs expression he could not speak, but his pride kept him from crying. Mohsen was standing in a corner and sobbing. I looked around for Leila, who was being comforted by the woman Zeynab. As I looked at them in their grief, I thought about how quickly they had become orphans.

Da (Mother) 38

The Memoirs of Seyyedeh Zahra Hoseyni

It was less crowded than on the previous days; there were no wounded people in the clinic. Contrary to what I had imagined, the girls were busy doing their own work. I said hello, and they greeted me warmly. The reaction was very different from the way they had behaved toward to me the day before. Gone was the familiar teasing: “Here comes the grouch” or “You look like a cadaver.”

Da (Mother) 37

The Memoirs of Seyyedeh Zahra Hoseyni

I put these thoughts behind me and noticed numbers of people walking toward Mahshahr. This would be my first time there. Not knowing much about the city, I imagined it was not different from Abadan, because like Abadan it had a petrochemical complex and, of course, foreign forces had been stationed there. But when we got there, I saw it was mostly dry wasteland. It seemed as if the sun was fiercer here—everywhere I looked was baked salt marsh.

Da (Mother) 36

The Memoirs of Seyyedeh Zahra Hoseyni

It did not take but a few seconds for the jets to veer off toward Taleqani Hospital and drop their bombs between the hospital and a rural area southeast of the city. There were several explosions that sent smoke and dust into the air, followed immediately by the sound of breaking glass. The quaking of the earth was so terrible it felt like a whole had opened up and we were being swallowed by it.

Da (Mother) 35

The Memoirs of Seyyedeh Zahra Hoseyni

At the crack of dawn on the fifth day I waited impatiently for the truck to come, poking my head out of the gate every so often, looking down the avenue for any sign of it. The sun had just risen when two vans—one a Nissan, the other a Peykan—pulled into Jannatabad and stopped in front of the body washers building. The two young men who had delivered the shrouds the night before along with a number of guards stepped out of the vans.

Da (Mother) 34

The Memoirs of Seyyedeh Zahra Hoseyni

A short time after he hung up, two young men on a motorcycle arrived. They said, “Brother Jahan Ara sent us.” They brought several bolts of denim with them. The body washers put in a call to Parvizpur asking him to come and help with the shrouding. We lit some pressure lamps, but only enough to give off a dim light; the bodies were male and we did not want them fully exposed.

Da (Mother) 33

The Memoirs of Seyyedeh Zahra Hoseyni

I had not finished speaking when the forms of dogs appeared, and the sound was now coming from the garden area. They were running toward us. We were all crouched on the ground gathering stones, which we threw at the dogs. This only made them bolder, and they came at us more quickly, and at the same time increased the space between them. Some went to the left, others to the right.