A Time to Betray by Kahlili Reza

Author:Kahlili, Reza [Kahlili, Reza]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Patriot Bookshelf
ISBN: 9781439189030
Google: T37kbO8HQUEC
Amazon: 143918903X
Publisher: Threshold Editions
Published: 2012-11-06T06:00:00+00:00

17

THE TORCH IS PASSED

INSIDE MEHRABAD AIRPORT’S terminal, echoing voices competed with loudspeaker flight arrival and departure announcements. Somaya and Omid were waiting at the gate outside customs. I rushed toward them, eagerly anticipating a hug and leaving Kazem behind. My wife and son had become my refuge, my one safe place where I could be who I wanted to be.

But Somaya’s usual smile was missing that day. As I got closer, I could see tears in her eyes. We embraced briefly, and then she buried her head in my shoulder and started crying.

I cradled her and took Omid from her arms, pulling him close to me. “What’s wrong?” I said to her.

Somaya looked up at me sadly. “Reza, Nima was killed in jebheh. We just got the news this morning.”

The army had conscripted Nima, her eighteen-year-old cousin, four months earlier. They gave him only rudimentary training and sent him to the front. The revolution had now claimed another one of us.

Kazem had given me a little space to greet Somaya. Now, having witnessed our drama, he came over and asked what was wrong.

“Baradar Kazem, I just heard that my cousin was killed at the front,” Somaya said.

Her calling Kazem “brother” touched me. It warmed me that she would make the effort to show respect for my position, even though she detested my being in the Guards, and even while she was contending with a tragedy.

“I am so sorry for your loss, khahar,” Kazem said, calling Somaya “sister,” “but he is a shahid now and he paid his share of sacrifice for Islam.”

For reasons that I can’t comprehend in retrospect, I felt it was important for me to support this point. “Baradar Kazem, you are right. We should be proud that now our family has a God’s warrior, a martyr.”

The words felt artificial to me the moment they left my mouth. And, more important, I knew that by saying them I had crossed the line with Somaya. While she might grudgingly accept my role in the Guards, she would never accept my trivializing the death of a loved one in this way. I felt miserable instantly.

Somaya reacted as I knew she would—and should. As soon as Kazem turned his head to a voice calling his name, she pushed my arm away. Glaring at me angrily, she said, “Let’s get out of here.”

On the plane, Kazem had told me that he’d learned from Rahim that the Iraqi army was using chemical weapons on our forces in the offensive dubbed Operation Kheibar, which took place on Majnoon Island in Iraq. These weapons, a combination of sarin and mustard gas, had killed or injured thousands. Because we lacked treatment facilities, the Guards were seeking help throughout Europe. With no cure or antidote available and nothing to alleviate their suffering, our soldiers experienced convulsions, nose and mouth bleeding, and finally suffocation. Picturing Nima dying a slow, painful death made me feel all the more guilty for what I had blurted out.

Our reunion destroyed by my callousness, Somaya had turned away from me and was walking quickly toward the exit.

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