The Sardar had tried to jump from the car, but the rifle of one of the officers was against his chest in a flash.
“Sit down. Where do you think you’re going?”
The other officials also got into the Jeep and the automobile set off.
Zabihollah asked painfully, “So, sir, what happened? What have you decided?”
One inspector replied, “You’ll need to change the position of the water pump!”
“What?!”
The Sardar’s camels were scattered around the field and he could see each of them, whether close or far, from the Jeep’s windows as it drove off. Two of his camels were standing near the drain for the water pump, and Karbalai Doshanbeh was standing by one of the animals, watching it drink from the water. The Jeep stopped beside the pump, and one of the inspectors and one of the policemen got out, walked over the pump, and shut the machine off. A moment later, as Karbalai Doshanbeh watched them in shock, they reentered the Jeep.
“We’ve signed and sealed it!”
Karbalai Doshanbeh walked a few steps toward the Jeep and then stood aghast in the dust that rose from the wheels as it drove off.
The two camels had stopped their drinking of the water and were looking at him. He turned and faced the animals, then sat by the pump drain grumbling.
“Imagine that I was planning to be the caretaker of the pump! Isn’t it a shame? Isn’t this clear water a shame? It was pure enough for your ablutions! Why did they shut it down? Working here saved me from that hovel, that shed! I spit on this life and the next!”
“Get up, Papa! Get up. They’re ruining our means of living!”
It was Salar Abdullah who had reached the water pump along with the crowd of partners and shareholders in the machine.
“Get up, Papa! Our property’s gone and turned to smoke!”
Karbalai Doshanbeh looked at his son. If there were a word to describe crying without tears, one would use it to describe Salar Abdullah.
“You see them? They’re going to get a rope to pull the camel out of the well. Two of them have gone to get a well digger. They won, Papa! You see them?”
Karbalai Doshanbeh rose, shaded his eyes with one hand, and looked. A group of men were walking from the edge of the well toward the village. They had shovels on their shoulders as they walked. Another group was also approaching, scattered as they were. The shareholders in the water pump were walking scattered through the field like the Sardar’s camels. Karbalai Doshanbeh lifted his hand from his eyes and said, “No! They’ve not won. They’ll never get that camel out from the bottom of the well. No way! Are they taking Zabihollah to town, then?”
“They’re taking him and his broken bones to town. Go get your torn blanket and let’s leave.”
“No! No, I’ll stay here. I’ll stay right here!”
Karbalai Doshanbeh said this and went into the shed housing the pump’s motor and shut the door behind himself.
He grumbled to himself, “I’m staying. I’ll stay here. I have nothing left to return to Zaminej for.”
The group reached the pump one by one, gathering around the drain. They sat around it as if they were at a mourning ceremony. The trickle of water from the drain pained their eyes.
Molla Aman, Morad, Mergan, Hajj Salem, and Moslem were in the midst of the group. Moslem went to stand in the shade of the wall of the pump housing. He removed his clothes one by one and ran naked toward the drain pool, throwing himself into the water.
Hajj Salem looked at those gathered in exasperation. “You see that beast?”
Mergan turned and set back out toward Zaminej. Morad and Molla Aman also set out following her. They were silent and didn’t look around as they walked.
* * *
Abrau had fallen asleep by the tractor. Mergan didn’t have the heart to wake her son up. Morad sat down in the shade of the tractor and waited, as Mergan and Molla Aman walked away across the graveyard. Mergan looked at her brother. Molla Aman turned his head and averted his eyes from hers. Mergan asked him, “It wasn’t your doing?”
“What? What wasn’t my doing?”
“You were out until the middle of the night last night! This all wasn’t your doing?”
“What are you talking about? What wasn’t my doing?”
“The camel! Did you throw the camel into the well?!”
“You’re crazy! Sister, you’re insane!”
Molla Aman didn’t continue. He turned to go toward Karbalai Doshanbeh’s home and said, “I’m going to try to find a bit of hay to give to my donkey! And maybe a bit of water!”
Mergan didn’t watch him as he left, and she set out walking on her own path.
Raghiyeh wasn’t in the alley any longer. Mergan looked into Ali Genav’s home. Her daughter was sitting by the mortar and was grinding something inside it. Hajer’s pregnancy was now showing. Mergan entered and stood before Hajer beside the mortar.
“What are you grinding?”
“Some herbs. Ali brought it for me from town. He also brought some other bits and pieces. Some herbal flowers also. He’s so happy! Nothing’s happened and he’s already brought back some leather for me to make his son a vest! His son! Ha!”
“Good … Good … Hajer!”
Hajer raised her hand from the pestle and looked at her mother.
“Yes?”
Mergan took the pestle in her hand and busied herself grinding the herbs in the mortar. She was about to say something, but before she could open her mouth, Ali Genav came barreling into the room.
“Where are the ropes? Where? I had put them here somewhere!”
Hajer asked, “What do you want the ropes for?”
“We need to gather all the rope we have in the village and tie it together. It’s not a baby goat that’s fallen into the well!”
He looked for the ropes, finding them in the pantry. He didn’t say anything to Mergan. He tossed the coil of rope around his shoulder, and as he left he said, “The baths need water. Cattle need water. Crops need water. We can’t live without water!”
He went to the alley, and silence once again spread its blanket inside the house.
Mergan quietly continued to grind the herbs in the mortar with the pestle.
Hajer asked, “What’s happened?”
Instead of replying to the question, Mergan said, “We’re leaving.”
“Where?”
“We’re going out to the province where your father’s been seen.”
“All of you?”
“All of us? I don’t know!”
“Will you come back?”
“I don’t know.”
“What about me, then?”
“You … you have a house and a life here. You have a husband. Now that you’ll be bringing him a child, he’ll love you more. What are you worried about?”
Hajer was shocked into silence. Then she said, “But if you go, who will I have? If I need some help, who will be there? Who’ll cut the umbilical cord for my newborn baby?”
Mergan couldn’t give in to the compassion she felt in her heart. She said, “You’ll have people here. Someone will help you. I’ve not done anything bad to these people. They won’t refuse to help my daughter!”
Hajer’s lips began to tremble. Mergan couldn’t let herself be affected by her daughter’s tears. She rose and changed the subject. “You have a rash on your face!”
Hajer replied with a broken voice.
“That’s exactly what I’m worried about. Some of the neighbors are saying having a rash is a sign of the child being a girl!”
Mergan had heard this said as well. But she didn’t want to worry her daughter. She raised her head and said, “Let them say what they want! Are they in touch with God?”
She couldn’t take it. She turned, leaving Hajer sitting beside the mortar, and left.