The Shoelace
A Jam of Jar - The Shoelace
Sir, don’t go visiting the families of the fighters today. Stay here in the office”, he told me. “Haj Agha1 , it’s necessary”, I replied. “You think you’re not needed .here? Stay”, he said It wasn’t a bad idea. I sat behind the desk and told myself, “Today I’ll rest”. But it wasn’t long enough that the father of a chemical victim entered and shouted. I greeted him. “How can you be so confident? You sent my kid to the frontline, he got injured, now you don’t even visit him. Are you fair? What should .I do with him?”, he said The old man was from Torbat-Jam2 . I told him, “Haj Agha, the responsibility of the injured are with the Shahid1 Foundation. We here …” he didn’t let finish my word. “You made him a chemical victim. Now you’re passing me around”, he said. I lowered my head and searched for a word to give him a relief. Then, I noticed my foot is stuck under the desk. Not only I couldn’t have found the suitable word, but also, I was on the verge of laughing. I couldn’t lift my head. He was getting angrier and he had every right for it. I pulled my foot to get free, but it didn’t do the trick. I lowered my head to untie the shoelace. I was only focusing on not being caught. He noticed I wasn’t looking while he was speaking, so he got closer and closer and he was nearly above my head. He raised his voice. “Don’t be ashamed, put your head down. Pretend you’re busy”, he said. He was being sarcastic and shredded me continuously. Suddenly, he pulled back a few steps and his tone changed. “Oh my God. What happened to you, son? You were injured in the war? What happened to your leg? Did they cut it off? Is it artificial? And I was angry with you. I’m so sorry, son. I’m sorry”, he said. I hardly got the artificial leg out and picked it up with the other hand. He was quite embarrassed. I looked at his face. It was so pure, so plain. You could see his big, kind heart behind his shabby clothes. “Don’t worry sir, I knew. I had to tell you sooner that your son’s paper work is being done at Shahid Foundation. They are sending him to Germany”, I said. It wasn’t important to him anymore. He didn’t even listen. His shoulders were shaking as he left. I didn’t see him around afterwards.5
