Angel

That year I was in the first grade in Shahed (witness) school. There were a lot of martyr's children there. All the other kids respected them. The regular kids would try and become friendly with a couple of them. I had done that too, I was friends with a few in my class. I liked them a lot because they were different, one would think they were land angels. They really were.

Sometimes I would wish I was a martyr's child, anyway each day when I got on the bus, I would save empty seats for them and sometimes I would stand in the middle so they could sit down. With the kids getting on the bus everyone would scream at the same time: "Mr. Driver put in gear".

That day, maybe it was midyear, like always I ran with the rest and got on the bus. The kid's scream was louder: Mr. Driver….but the driver seemed drowned in himself, I knew Mr. Hossein he was friends with my dad. He had his head on the steering wheel and he was waiting. I went to him; put my hand on his shoulder.

Mr. Hossein we are hungry, why don’t you get moving.
He calmly lifted his head from the wheel. Glanced at me, held my hand and came to the centre of the bus. He told one of the students: Get up so Fatemeh can sit...

My friend got up angrily. Although I didn’t want to sit. I sat in the empty seat so Mr. Hossein wouldn't get upset. The kids looked at me strangely; I was surprised myself, how come Mr. Hossein was concerned about my seating arrangement after such a long time?

Actually Mr. Hossein would always say: Let the martyr children use the seats specially those who lived far, he had certain respect for them. That day although he didn't fit in his own skin, it moved me a bit. The streets passed one by one and kids would get off until he got close to our area, I got up and after saying good bye to the kids I got off the bus. I waited for the bus to move. I looked at Mr. Hossein, he had me under watch.

-Fatemeh give my regards to your mom……I might come to your house. The bus moved and they got away. He got me thinking, he'd never been to my house before, why today? I got to my street. As I was thinking I saw a crowd in the distance. I got closer. Oh my God! What are all these people doing in front of our house?

I started running; when I got closer I could hear sounds of crying from inside the house. A beautiful nuptial chamber could be seen by the wall and when I looked properly a beautiful picture of my dad……

And with seeing the picture of dad, I knew why Mr. Hossein was coming today…..