Shahaab’s swearing did the job. Fataneh took advantage of the changed atmosphere, took Hossein’s arm and said, ‘Hurry up. Let’s go home. You should lie down.’
Khosrow said, ‘What about Fereshteh? Why isn’t she coming?’
Fataneh snapped back at him, ‘As I said before, it’s none of your business. She wants to stay with Maryam a few days to study.’
‘Yeah, right! Study!’
‘No, actually, she doesn’t want to study! I just want her away from you for a few days so she can have some peace and quiet. God knows I’d run away from you too if I could!’
They left and the house turned quiet once again. Nasser lay down on the sofa and said, ‘We were lucky it all turned out okay. Who knows what would have happened if we hadn’t found her. You can’t imagine the things we saw last night. So, did everything really happen the way you described?’
I looked at him with hesitation. I wasn’t sure how much of the truth he could handle. My grandmother used to say, ‘The less men know the better!’ I calmly answered, ‘Yes, of course.’
‘Where is she now?’
‘She’s sleeping in Shahaab’s room. I don’t think she’s feeling too well.’
‘Does she have a cold?’
‘No, she’s pale and depressed. That outgoing happy girl has turned into an introvert who’s constantly weeping.’
‘But why? What’s wrong with her?’
‘I’m not sure. I think Khosrow pesters her.’
‘That’s nothing new.’
‘Her mother doesn’t understand her either. Let her stay here a few days and I’ll figure it out. I should go and see how she is. Do you want to come?’
‘No. She’s really misbehaved and almost killed my brother with stress. I had better remain a bit cool towards her. Did you see Shahaab?!’
‘My son spoke! I was right the other time too. He did really call me “Mum”.’
‘What does it mean then? Can he really speak?’
‘Apparently, whenever he feels like it!’
‘Wow! He stays silent for ever and then comes out swearing like hell! I really don’t understand it. How much can he say? Why won’t he speak? What’s his problem? He’s a complicated child. We should take him to see a psychologist.’
‘He doesn’t have a problem now that he’s started talking. He’ll gradually begin saying everything. But that was really funny! It made my heart melt!’
‘You should be careful though. If we start laughing at his swearing we’ll never be able to control it. It’ll get very embarrassing. We have to take it seriously from the beginning. Don’t start hugging and kissing him just because he’s said something. He has to understand that we’ll only be happy if he says nice things.’
‘It’s really hard though. I want to give him a million kisses!’
‘It was very funny, especially with that look on his face. But we have to control ourselves. Where is he anyway?’
‘He ran upstairs. I’ll get him so we can talk to him.’
Fereshteh said Shahaab hadn’t been in his room. We looked for him everywhere, under the beds, in all the rooms and the bathroom. Nasser began to get worried.
‘He can’t have left the house. He must be upstairs somewhere. What if he’s out on the balcony?’
We ran up the stairs again. The door to the balcony was unlocked. Nasser said, ‘What if he’s gone on the roof?’ We looked at each other terrified. The stairs to the rooftop and its low parapet wall were very dangerous. We slowly climbed the stairs. I stopped breathing as soon as I saw him hanging off the parapet wall.
I placed my hand on my chest and froze on the stairs. Nasser walked up to him slowly and quietly. I’m not sure what had attracted Shahaab’s attention. He was hanging from the wall trying to reach it. Nasser grabbed him in mid-air and smacked him so he wouldn’t dare come up those stairs again.