Paradise: a collection of short stories
by Fatemeh Madani
One-Eyed Goat
1
My dad loved animals. He had chickens, goats, a deer, and a dog. He kept them in a small yard behind his bedroom. One day he came home happy and announced that he was going to buy a cow. My mom, tired of cleaning the yard and feeding the animals, said “if you bring a cow to this house I will put you and your cow in the alley. End of discussion!”
Well, my humble reader, this story is not about my dad’s failure in buying the cow; it’s not about his ferocious dog who ran after people until one day he was hit by a car and died; and it is not about the poor deer whose death traumatized my dad for a long time. This story is about the one-eyed goat. My one-eyed goat.
2
Each time one of our goats became pregnant my parents donated her unborn kid to one of us. This time it was my turn but surprisingly the goat had three kids. My parents were happy and called me the luckiest girl in the family. They treated me with respect. I felt like a queen.
One of my kids was very naughty. During the night when everybody was asleep, he used to jump on the cooler and make noise. One night my dad, who had sleeping problems requiring him to take pills, lost control and rushed to the yard to punish the naughty goat. He took a Konar* branch and ran after my goat. The noise stopped and we went to bed again.
3
The next morning, my dad woke me up with his mourning and cursing. I ran to the yard and I saw my poor little goat with one eye. The Konar* branch had hit his eye and it had popped out of the socket. My dad was crying while holding the baby goat, caressing him, beating his criminal hand. “Why did I do such a horrible thing?” Suddenly he stopped. He ran to the kitchen and came back with a big knife. “Today I am going to cut this guilty hand so that it won’t hurt anybody the next time I lose control.” My mom held him. “That’s enough. Stop acting like a child!” she said trying to calm him.
4
After that incident, my dad became too kind to everybody. And I swear we didn’t take advantage of him... except for making some noise when he was taking his afternoon nap. Each time he saw the one-eyed goat he felt miserable. The one-eyed goat was a torture to his guilty conscience. Until one day he gave the one-eyed goat to our neighbor for free. Yes, my humble reader, my one-eyed goat!
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*Konar is an evergreen tree with a strong trunk and vast branches that create a shadow. Its leaf, called Sidr, is small and in the past it was used for washing hair and body. Today it's used in making shampoo and washing dead غصل میت. Konar is considered a spiritual tree and people tie wraps to its branches in mausoleums for Nadhr (نذر). Konar is also called Sidrat Al Montiha سدره المنتها.
Sekeen
My mother’s uncle had two wives. I liked the oldest one. Her name was Sekeen (Sakeeneh). One day when I was playing with boys at the sea-shore my button fell off. I was scared to go home with that shirt. So I took the button and ran to Sekeen’s. While she was sewing it, Sekeen told me “You are a big girl now. I remember when you were a little baby and I used to take care of you. I raised you my daughter. I raised you.” I heard that from somebody else too. I went home and I asked my mom. “What were you doing when anybody else was raising me?” She smiled and explained to me how people on my island like to exaggerate everything and that Sekeen only rocked my cradle once or twice.
Sekeen was a kind and nice woman. I never liked the uncle’s new wife Soghra. Around four or five years ago, Sekeen had an ischemic stroke and could not walk or talk anymore. I remember people were saying how uncle, who had abandoned her for many years, was making food for her and taking care of her. One day uncle made fish with tomato sauce for Sekeen. When he was feeding her, he lost his control and hit her on the head and started to cry, “What have you done to yourself, you miserable woman?” Some days later Sekeen passed away.
Mom’s Paradise
They come in different colors: red, green, navy, and khaki. They come in different designs: alter, hunting ground, flowers, trees, fish, lovers, nightingales, vases, and Shah- Abbasi flower**. They are called by their designs. They can be wool or silk.
My mom’s rug is made of wool threads. She loves it more than anything in the world (maybe even us):
“Don’t spill water on it! Take off your shoes!
Don’t use vacuum cleaner!” (Don’t vacuum it!)
We used to sweep it using a broom made of palm trees’ leaves.
It is hand made and expensive. Made by the soft hands of girls and women in the villages. They have to work together. Men and women. They have to work hard to bring home food.
It’s 3 by 4 meters. Crimson Shah-Abbasi. It is called Shah-Abbasi because it was designed during Shah Abbas king of Safavid’s dynasty in Isfahan.
The underneath part that goes on the floor is rather hard to protect the threads. The surface is soft and smooth. First margin: white background with Shah-Abbasi and small flowers in blue and red. In each corner there is a Lachak, a traditional hat or scarf for women. The Lachak in the shape of a triangle with a big Shah-Abbasi flower** and two Eslimi leaves in the shape of a snake’s open mouth. The background becomes crimson as you move to the center. You follow the Eslimis patterns with your finger and pass between blue and pink small flowers, seven-petaled flowers, Shah-Abbasi and river like Eslimi leaves until you reach the center, Toranj. It’s a circle with eight Shah-Abbasi on the edge. There’s another circle in the heart of the first one with eight smaller Shah-Abbasi, and another circle in the heart of the second one with eight tiny Shah-Abbasi which cover a blue small flower with eight petals. It’s about harmony and symmetry. It’s an orchestra. It’s a river. It’s paradise. It’s a garden. Mom takes care of her Persian carpet the same way dad takes care of his garden.
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**The Shah-Abbasi flower is a kind of pattern that became popular during Shah Abbas, king of the Safavid dynasty. Iranian art flourished during the Safavid dynasty.
Shah Abbasi Carpet: https://www.saadatrent.com/english/article/iranian-carpet
Shah Abbasi Flower and Bote Joghe: https://persian-rug-cleaning.london/common-rug-motifs/
Invisible Island
They say the island was red because of the famous mine, which drew in miners and businessmen from all around the world. Local people, however, never welcomed the strangers. Red soil was their food. They mixed red soil, salt, and fish and left it for forty days until it produced a red sauce. My grandpa heard from his great-grandpa how Portuguese troops occupied the island once and built a huge fort on the north.
“They were hundreds and people couldn't fight with them,” said grandpa. “But their long presence made jins and other creatures who lived on the red, yellow and blue mountains furious and gradually Portuguese soldiers disappeared. Then those creatures took power and ruled the island.”
“Tell me about the creatures” I said.
Grandpa sighed. “Bap Derya was their father. He was very tall and gigantic. He had four huge fingers. When sailors approached the island, he took them to the sea and killed them. Melmedas was their mother. She was a very beautiful woman with a nice scent. She sang in the nights and that made the sailors crazy. They went to touch her and she embraced them. She put her legs around them and cut them with the sickle she had between her legs. Mahdisma was the guard. He was a huge tall man with big testicles who appeared at night. If somebody was brave enough he could pass under his legs and point to his testicles and shout ‘you have got a lot of balls.’ Then Mahdisma looked at him and said ‘You have got a lot of heart’ and let him go. There were jins too. There were fairies who stole handsome men and slept with them too.”
After he finished his story he went to the basement and came back with a bowl of red sauce. “This is Sooragh. My great-grandma made it. I kept it in the basement. It’s like wine. The older, the better.” Then he asked me to bring a loaf of bread. He dropped the sauce on the bread with a brush made of palm trees. Then he added olive oil. I couldn't wait to ask him what happened that the island suddenly disappeared.
“Eat!” he said. I was full but I knew that I couldn't refuse. So I cut a piece of bread and put it in my mouth. God! It was the most delicious food I have ever had. I took one more piece, then another, then another. I ate the whole bread and totally forgot what I was going to ask.
Get high
It is time to get high. Climb the ladder and get high. Go higher and higher until you reach the roof. Walk on the roof and feel the chilly breeze that is coming from the sea. Look around. Red desert. Palm trees. Small hills. Rocks. A river. Mountains. Palm trees are shaking from right to left. Left to right. And toy remember when you used to go there and sit on the top of a rock with your friend and write love poems. When naughty boys were watching you from behind the trees.
You turn to the other side. To the sunset. The sun is drowning in the sea. The red sea. You remember the time you saw the first dolphin in your life. The moment the sea took your sister’s shitty clothes with her. You ran to your mom and told her: mom I saw a dolphin. And she smiled at you because she knew that there is no dolphin in the gulf. Then she asked you “what did you do with those clothes you’re supposed to wash, ha?” And you explained to her how the big wave hit the rock and took everything with it.
The blue bird is flying over the palm trees and you follow it with your eyes. The breeze is caressing your hair and you feel cold. You cover your face and red nose with your hands. It takes you back to the red seashore when you and your friends were gathering around the fire and playing music and singing. And you stared at blue, yellow and red.
Red coal.
“Oh, Grandma look you dropped another coal on the carpet!” She took the hot coal with hand and put it again on top of her hubble-bubble. And you sleep with the calming sound of hubble-bubble, thinking why grandma was always high.
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