Crossing the Border

Translated from the Persian by Owrang Editorial

Characters

Simin, 35
Jamal, 30
Touba, 24
Tara, 12
Villager, a man of 40

Scene One

A village room, very neatly arranged, like a guest room. Outside, the sound of a blizzard and wind. The door opens and a villager comes in carrying a large suitcase, followed by Jamal, out of breath, supporting Simin as she struggles to walk. Jamal sits Simin down in a corner and, exhausted, sits beside her, still panting. The villager puts the large suitcase, which is Simin's, to one side, brings two blankets from the back of the room and hands them to Jamal.

Villager: Get her wet clothes off and wrap this blanket round her so she warms up. Get yourself warm too. I'll have them bring you some tea so the cold goes out of your bones.

Jamal: Thank you so much.

The villager goes out. Jamal, frazzled and frozen, looks at Simin and takes a deep breath, takes off his coat and wraps the blanket around her, as if talking to her.

Jamal: Right, let me help you. Looks like you and me are both out of luck. I thought of everything except an avalanche. God help us with the rest.

Then he wraps another blanket around himself and sits by the stove.

Jamal: (talking to God, to himself) Damn this luck. Just tell me why. You know this was the last arrow I had in my quiver. So why did you ruin it and stick me here? ... Looks like there's nothing left I can do. So I'm supposed to give up. (pause) Fine... fine, I'll leave it to you, O God, let's see what plan you've got for me.

The door opens. Touba, a young woman with a worn face and a burn scar on it, comes in with a tray of tea and village bread. Jamal smiles at her, but Touba, without any reaction, puts the tray on the floor and leaves. Jamal pours tea for himself and Simin and takes a glass to Simin.

Jamal: Here, drink this, it'll warm you up.

Simin limply takes the glass from Jamal. Her hands are shaking. Jamal helps her drink the tea.

Jamal: You'll be fine soon.

Simin: Who are you?

Jamal: The one who pulled you out from under the avalanche.

Simin: Where's my husband?

Jamal says nothing.

Simin: Please. He was with me. Where is he?

Jamal: I don't know. I only found you.

Simin looks at him in shock, then weeps.

Jamal: Us being alive is a kind of miracle too.

Simin: You mean he's dead?

Jamal: What can I say?

Simin: (weeping) I wish I'd died with him.

Jamal: Don't say that!

Simin weeps silently. She drinks her tea in silence.

Scene Two

Simin is better. She stands angrily at the window with her back to Jamal, who is looking at her.

Jamal: I know it's a lot to ask, but if you'd agree...

Simin: Good that you know what you're asking of me. I'm amazed you even have the nerve to ask such a thing!

Jamal: Believe me, I know. But I've got no other choice. Look, I'm just like you. I'm stuck here. If you don't help, I'll be in trouble.

Simin: No, you're not like me. I'm the one who's been stuck in this room with you for two days. With a strange man, and I don't even know who he is or what he does. And now you want me to pretend you're my husband? A husband whose body they haven't even found yet... (she weeps, then goes towards the door) I can't stay in this room with you any longer.

Simin is about to leave the room when Jamal blocks her way.

Jamal: Wait, please. I'll explain.

Simin: Let go of the door or I'll scream.

Simin struggles with him. She tries to open the door.

Jamal: Wait... listen to what I'm saying... I'm telling you I'm just like you... really like you... damn it, I'm a woman too.

Simin freezes where she stands, astonished. Jamal, panting, looks at her. A few moments of silence between them.

Simin: What?

Jamal: Believe me, it's the truth.

Simin: I don't believe you.

Jamal: I know it's hard to believe. But it's true.

Simin: (incredulous) You'd have done better to tell a different story.

Jamal: I'm not lying to you. And I'm not telling stories. This is the damned reality of my life.

Simin still looks at him in disbelief. Jamal is exasperated.

Jamal: You want me to pull them down so you'll believe me?

Jamal reaches for his trousers.

Simin: No, wait... God, what's going on here? You mean you really...

Jamal: Yes. I'm a woman, like you.

Simin: What's your name?

Jamal: (pauses a little) Jamal.

Simin: Oh God!

Jamal: I know... I know, but I'll explain. If you let go of that handle and sit down, I'll tell you everything.

Simin hesitates, but slowly lets go of the handle, sits down and looks at Jamal. Jamal doesn't know how to explain.

Simin: Well, go on.

Jamal: (laughs, flustered) Fine... fine... well, once upon a time... I was the fifth child born in my family, I mean the fifth girl. But my father wanted a son. He'd sort of given up hope. He decided to have a son for himself, and that part fell to me. A boy's name, boy's clothes, boy's jobs, and little by little I became a real son for my father. Everyone believed my father really had a son. Even when I hit puberty they taught me to hide my periods. I bound my chest with elastic cloth so it wouldn't show and wouldn't grow. Eventually I came to believe it myself, that despite my body I was a boy. I had male friends, I was freer than my sisters. I did men's work and little by little I sort of liked it. So much that I didn't know any more what I really was. One day I went to my father and said I want to change my sex and really become a boy... I thought my father would welcome it. But he flew into such a rage that he went for me. He beat me till I passed out. Then he told me if I ever said that again, my blood would be on my own head.

Simin: Why? It was his dream to have a son.

Jamal: That's what I thought too. But he was so afraid of disgrace he wouldn't accept it. It didn't even fit inside his head. As if I'd been talking about some mortal sin.

Simin: Changing your sex isn't that easy, either.

Jamal: But at least then you know what you are.

Simin: Is everything you've said really true?

Jamal: I wish it weren't. I wish I'd wake up one day and see it was all a dream.

Simin: How do you feel now?

Jamal: I don't know. I really don't know.

Simin: Physically you're still a girl. Don't you want to carry on with that? You don't have to pretend any more.

Jamal: I don't know what being a girl really means. My feelings have been pushed down so much, I've been told so many times that I'm a boy, that I don't know how to be a girl any more.

Simin: What a fate!

Jamal: It's like a curse. I want to go abroad so I can have the operation. I've got to know a few people in England, they've promised to help me. I'm not asking much of you, just that these people think we're together until we're over the border.

Simin: Oh God.

Jamal: I know it's a lot to ask. But...

Simin: (thinks a little) All right. I'll help you.

Jamal: I'll make it up to you.

Simin: You can be the sister I never had.

Jamal: At your service, sis.

Simin: (smiling at Jamal's manly way of talking) Or maybe the brother I never had.

Jamal: Either way, I'm in.

Scene Three

Simin sits by the open suitcase, with a few books on the floor beside her and clothes visible in the suitcase. She holds a man's shirt in her arms and weeps quietly. Jamal comes in. On seeing Jamal, Simin wipes her tears and gives a sad smile.

Simin: This suitcase was the only thing we brought with us from our life together.

Jamal picks up a book and glances at it.

Jamal: I couldn't bring anything with me.

Simin: I think these clothes would fit you.

Jamal: No, I don't want them. They're your husband's.

Simin: They're no use to him any more. I'd like you to wear them.

Jamal hesitates.

Simin: Please.

Jamal takes the clothes.

Jamal: Thank you.

Someone knocks at the door. Jamal opens it. Tara, a girl of ten or twelve, comes in with a tray of tea things that she can barely carry.

Tara: Here you are.

Jamal: Thank you, young lady. Isn't this tray too heavy for you?

Jamal takes the tray from Tara. Simin smiles at Tara.

Simin: Hello, little lady.

Tara: Hello.

Simin: What's your name?

Tara: (shyly) Tara.

Jamal: Oh, what a pretty name! Do you know what your name means?

Tara looks at Jamal, shy and smiling.

Jamal: So you don't know.

Tara nods yes.

Tara: (bashful) It means a bride's veil.

Jamal: Well done.

Simin: How old are you, Miss Tara?

Tara: (thinks a little) Twelve, I think.

Simin: (kindly) You think?

Tara nods. Simin takes a necklace out of the suitcase and gives it to Tara.

Simin: Here you are. This is for you, pretty Miss Tara.

Tara looks at Simin bashfully.

Jamal: Take it, Miss Tara. Don't be shy. You brought us tea, after all.

Tara takes the necklace, looks at it happily and puts it round her neck.

Tara: Did you come from Tehran?

Simin: Yes.

Tara: Do you want to go to the other side of the mountains?

Jamal: Yes. The other side of the mountains, you put it well, Miss Tara.

Tara: What's on the other side of the mountains?

Simin: A new life.

Tara: My mother says too, I wish we could go to the other side of the mountains.

Jamal: Are you looking for a new life too?

Tara: I don't know.

Simin: Would you like to go to the other side of the mountains too?

Tara: (thinks a little) I don't know.

Jamal: (laughs) You don't know anything.

Tara laughs innocently. There is a knock at the door. Jamal opens it. Touba comes in with a can of kerosene.

Jamal: Why are you carrying that? Give it to me.

Jamal takes the kerosene can and starts pouring it into the stove. Touba looks at Tara and points to her necklace.

Tara: This lady gave it to me.

Touba shakes her head no and goes to take it off Tara's neck.

Simin: No. Please, let her keep it. It suits dear Tara better.

Touba says nothing.

Simin: I'm Simin.

Touba looks at her.

Tara: My mum can't talk. Her name's Touba.

Simin tries to act normally.

Simin: Thank you for helping us, Touba khanom.

Touba answers with a faint smile. Jamal has emptied the kerosene and hands the can back to Touba.

Jamal: From now on, just tell me and I'll do it.

Touba takes the can and signals to Tara to come with her.

Simin: Goodbye, Miss Tara.

Tara smiles and leaves with Touba.

Simin: That was quite a cold reception!

Jamal: Looks like she doesn't much like us. But God bless her, she brought us kerosene. It's very cold tonight. And this wind and snow have no intention of letting up.

Scene Four

Touba is alone in the room, cleaning, when the books catch her attention. She looks at a few, opens one and reads. After a few moments the door opens and Simin comes in. Flustered, Touba shuts the book and puts it back in its place.

Simin: Hello, Touba khanom.

Touba answers the greeting with a nod, and gets up to leave.

Simin: No. Please stay... (she points to the book) I love that book too. Its poems calm me... If you'd like, take it... I've read it so many times I know the poems by heart.

Touba hesitates.

Simin: Please.

She picks up the book and puts it in Touba's hand. Touba thanks her with a gesture.

Simin: You're very kind to us here, but being alone is very hard... I wish you could talk and we could keep each other company.

Touba smiles, gets up and hides the book in her clothes. She nods goodbye and opens the door, to find herself face to face with Jamal. She waits a moment and then goes.

Jamal: You've made a friend!

Simin: She liked my books.

Jamal: Can she read?

Simin: She must be able to.

Jamal: Strange woman. Very mysterious. Her face is like stone. You can't read anything in it. And she doesn't talk.

Simin: Behind that stone face there's a gentle soul. Out of all the books, she'd picked Forough's poems.

Jamal: What good taste!

Simin: (surprised) You read Forough too?

Jamal: Some poets have no borders. No fisherman will ever catch a pearl in a mean stream that empties into a little pit. Come on, your turn.

Simin: In the folds of life's night-coloured skirt
I went, that in the dark of an unmarked grave
I might be free of life's struggle and strife

Jamal: That's so bitter.

Simin: That was how I felt after those two terrible days in Dey.

Jamal: I was full of anger more than anything. The things I saw... a girl died in her father's arms in front of my eyes. It was horrible.

Simin: It started with so much passion, and then it turned into a catastrophe. After those two days my husband was a wanted man.

Jamal: Is that why you ended up here?

Simin: Yes. Though they'd been harassing him a lot even before that, because of his union and political work.

Jamal looks at Simin, smiling and surprised.

Simin: What? Why are you looking at me like that?

Jamal: I just wonder how you ended up marrying a man like that.

Simin: Why, what am I like?

Jamal searches for a word.

Simin: Too much of a fashion-conscious girl?

Jamal doesn't know what to say.

Simin: Don't worry. I won't be offended. A lot of people asked that. But love doesn't understand these things.

Jamal: You fell in love with him?

Simin: No. He fell in love with me. And I was proud that it happened. When I went here and there with him and saw the place he had among his friends, I felt bigger, or when he talked about what was going on in society, even though I didn't understand much of it, I enjoyed it... I don't know, maybe I fell in love with his public self, which was new to me... But after a while a distance came between us. I didn't know how hard it is to live with a man like that. I wanted him always beside me, but a lot of the time he didn't even think about himself, and he put his life in danger again and again. It got so that we drifted apart, and we agreed to separate after we'd left Iran.

Jamal: Well!

Simin: Yes, that's the fate of a girl obsessed with fashion... Maybe if I'd married someone like me I'd be in my own home now and wouldn't have ended up here.

Jamal: We don't understand the hidden reason behind a lot of the things that happen in our lives.

Simin: Hidden reason! Now it's getting frightening.

Scene Five

Tara and Simin are in the room. The suitcase is open and clothes spill over its edge. Simin holds a beautiful dress and looks at it.

Tara: Oh, it's so pretty.

Simin: This was my engagement dress. I was so excited when I bought it.

Tara: You must have looked really beautiful when you wore it.

Simin: (smiles) Yes, I think so... in those days you're sort of walking on air.

Tara laughs.

Simin: Don't laugh, Miss Tara. When your turn comes, you'll see.

Tara smiles, embarrassed.

Tara: All your clothes are so pretty.

Simin: My clothes are my weak spot.

Tara: What does that mean?

Simin: (laughs) It means I'd give up my life before I'd give up my clothes. Look at this one, for example.

She takes a dress about Tara's size out of the suitcase.

Tara: (delighted) It's so pretty!

Simin: This was from when I was your age.

Tara: You've kept it till now?

Simin: Yes. I told you I love my clothes. I can't bear to part with them... But I'd like to give this one to you. I think it would really suit you.

Tara: No. You've kept it all this time. You must love it a lot.

Simin: Well, yes. But it doesn't fit me any more. And I think it'd fit you perfectly.

Simin holds the dress up against Tara.

Simin: Oh look, Miss Tara, it's as if they made it for you.

Tara holds the dress against herself, and Simin holds up the room's mirror so she can see herself in it. Tara looks at herself in the mirror, delighted. But then she takes the dress away from herself.

Tara: Thank you. But my mum says I mustn't take things from strangers.

Simin: Your mum's right. But I'm not a stranger. I'm your guest now. And your mum is very kind to me. Besides, you and I are friends now.

Tara: My mum says a guest is God's beloved. She says you're strangers here and we have to help you.

Simin: Your mum is very kind.

Tara: Yes. She's very kind.

Simin: How do you talk with your mum?

Tara: My mum and I have our own way of talking.

With a series of hand movements, Tara shows Simin how they talk.

Simin: Why can't your mum talk?

Tara: My grandma says she hasn't been able to talk since she got married.

Simin: Why?

Tara: I don't know. She never says anything.

Tara holds the dress against herself again and twirls.

Tara: I want to wear this when I'm a bride.

Simin: (laughs) You're much too little to be a bride, Miss Tara.

Tara: My mum was a bride when she was my age.

Simin: (astonished) What?

Tara: She says so herself. She went to school till fifth grade but after that they didn't let her study any more and she became a bride.

Simin: She must have been very upset.

Tara: Yes. She says she cried all the time. Then they took her to the bazaar and bought her lots of clothes and dolls. And a while after that she became a bride... I'll take this to show my mum, maybe she'll let me wear it.

Simin: All right, sweetheart, take it.

Tara leaves the room, delighted. As Tara goes, Simin takes a deep breath as if she had stopped breathing.

Simin: Oh God! Twelve years old?! So where were you?

Jamal comes in.

Jamal: What's happened? Are you crying?

Simin's tears flow.

Jamal: Simin, for God's sake, tell me what's happened.

Simin: Do you know Touba was married at twelve?

Jamal: What? How do you know?

Simin: Tara told me.

Jamal thinks a little.

Jamal: So she's only twenty-four now?

Simin: Yes. But her face is like a woman of forty... Tara said she hasn't spoken since her wedding night... Think of it, she was only twelve... ... today they call it child marriage... what a shock she must have had.

Simin keeps talking through her tears. Jamal takes her by the shoulders and shakes her.

Jamal: Simin... stop it. Calm down.

Simin: Do you hear what I'm saying?

Jamal: Yes... yes, I hear it and I understand what a terrible thing has happened, but what can you do about it?

Simin: I wish I could do something. At the demonstrations after Mahsa died, when I was shouting "Woman, Life, Freedom" with joy beside all those young girls and boys, my whole being filled with strength and passion. And afterwards, when we managed to call compulsory hijab into question and leave it behind, I thought how strong I was and what a great thing I'd been part of... But now it's as if everything has collapsed for me.

Jamal: What are you saying? You can't let this or anything else make you doubt that beautiful struggle. It took years for these things to happen, for our girls and women to be able at least to choose how they dress. I'm sure one day these terrible things will end too. I believe it.

Simin: I don't know... I mean, I know, but...

Jamal: No more buts. Look at my situation. I went out to those demonstrations right alongside everyone else. The fear of what would happen to me in my situation if they arrested me and I ended up in prison made me shake, but I went. Every single day. I took baton blows, I nearly choked on tear gas, but I went, because I had to, for all the reasons you know yourself. Like the thousands of young girls and boys who went but didn't get the chance to stay alive and see our days of victory. So how can you say none of this is worth anything?

Simin: I didn't say it isn't worth anything.

Jamal: Then stop it... Women in this country have always fought for their rights... now men have understood they have to stand behind them too. That's worth a great deal. These terrible things will end one day too. We just mustn't give up the fight.

Scene Six

Jamal is holding one of Simin's dresses against himself and looking in the mirror. Simin smiles.

Jamal: Oh God... how strange this feels to me. Why did you make me do this?

Simin: Don't you want to try it on?

Jamal: I already feel stupid as it is.

Simin: You really don't feel anything?

Jamal: No... once, when I was little, I put on one of my sisters' dresses and I was looking at myself in the mirror when my mother walked in... She was so frightened her face went white as chalk. She said, "Do you want your father to beat you black and blue with a stick, that you've put this on, Jamal?!" Then she tore the dress off me so roughly that the zip broke. Then she threw my own clothes in front of me and said, "You're Jamal, you're a boy." I cried, and she slapped me and said, "Men don't cry." That was when I stopped wanting to be a girl. I hated my sisters and kept doing things to stand out more in my father's eyes... as if I wanted to take revenge on them... But later, when I grew up, it was as if I'd really become their brother. I did the things for them that a brother does for his sisters. I don't know, maybe that day my mother wanted to protect me.

Simin wipes away her tears.

Simin: What a bitter story!

Jamal: Bitter or sweet, that's how it is. Someone in this world had to play the son for their father, and the lot fell to crazy me.

There is a violent knocking at the door. Jamal opens it and Touba comes in. She is angry. She throws the dress and necklace Simin gave Tara at Simin. Agitated, she makes gestures with her hands that cannot be understood.

Jamal: What's happened, Touba khanom?

Touba again makes gestures that cannot be understood. She is breathing hard with anger. Simin wipes her tears and looks at Touba, stunned by her distress. Touba pauses a moment, takes a notebook out of her clothes, writes something quickly, tears the page out and angrily gives it to Simin. Simin reads it and looks at her in surprise. Touba stresses what she wrote with a movement of her hand.

Simin: Why?

Angrily, Touba writes something on the paper again, gives it to Simin and leaves the room. Simin reads the second note and looks at Jamal, at a loss. Jamal picks up the notes and reads them.

Jamal: "Don't give Tara anything any more and don't talk to her... You have no right to see her any more." What's happened?

Simin: I don't know.

Jamal: Why was she so angry?

Simin looks at the dress and the necklace.

Simin: I really don't know.

Scene Seven

The stage is empty. A moment later the door opens and Simin and Jamal come in, Jamal supporting her. Simin is distraught and weeping. Jamal, wanting to give her room, sits in a corner, and Simin weeps.

Simin: What a fate for someone who fought his whole life!

Jamal: No one knows where, how or when death will come for them.

Simin: He always thought he'd end up either in prison or shot at a demonstration. He always wanted me to be ready for that time. To be strong and... (she weeps)

Jamal: Then respect what he wanted and don't torment yourself like this.

Simin: I can't. When I saw his body like that, black and blue from the cold, how all that passion had gone at once, and now he has to be buried for ever in a nameless cemetery.

Jamal: In this stricken country of ours we're not short of nameless, unmarked graves. When will the day come when they find the mass graves of our children, and fathers and mothers can go looking for the bones of their loved ones?

Simin: I don't know when these nightmares will end.

Jamal: They'll end. Be sure of it. Like this avalanche that fell on us and blocked our way, but look now, the weather's getting better, maybe in a few days we can cross the border.

Someone knocks at the door. Jamal opens it. It is the villager. He comes in with a can of kerosene. Jamal takes the can from him and pours it into the stove.

Jamal: Thank you so much. We've put you and your family to a lot of trouble these days.

Villager: Don't say that! A guest is God's beloved. For as long as you need, this is your own home.

Simin: You've really been too kind to us.

Jamal: When do you think we'll be able to go?

Villager: God willing, the weather's clearing. Hopefully in a few days you'll be able to cross the border.

Jamal: God willing.

Villager: We've got a celebration coming up. After that, with God's help, we'll get you safely across.

Jamal: Wonderful. May there always be celebrations.

Jamal gives the can back to the villager.

Villager: I'll have them bring you some hot tea and some qavut to eat. God rest your companion's soul. It wasn't meant to be...

Jamal: Yes, it's truly a pity.

Simin: He died so far from home.

Villager: Ma'am, a lot of people have come here who couldn't get away, and we've buried them right here under this earth. That row where we buried your companion, all of them are people who wanted to cross the border and couldn't. Every Thursday night the villagers go and light candles for them and say a prayer. May God have mercy on them.

Simin: You mean how many others are buried there?

Villager: Maybe thirty or forty.

Simin: Oh my God!

The villager opens the door to leave. But he turns back.

Villager: Do us the honour of coming to our celebration. At least leave here with one happy memory.

Jamal: Of course. You're very kind.

The villager goes. Jamal shakes his head.

Jamal: What a world. It's as if it doesn't care about its people at all. The very day you come back from someone's burial, someone else invites you to a celebration!

Simin: It's a cruel world.

Jamal: What can I say? Or maybe it's telling us there's always a light of hope?

Simin: Hope...

There is a knock at the door. Jamal opens it. Tara stands behind the door, struggling to keep the tea tray steady in her hands. Jamal takes the tray from her.

Jamal: Hello, Miss Tara.

Tara does not answer.

On seeing Tara, Simin gets up and goes towards her. Tara wants to leave.

Simin: Tara, come in.

Tara does not answer.

Simin: Tara... what's happened?... why don't you say anything?

Tara: (stepping back) My mum told me not to talk to you.

Simin: Why?

Tara says nothing.

Simin: Why haven't you or your mum come here for days?

Tara: My mum isn't well.

Simin: Why? What's happened?

Tara's throat tightens. She tries to speak, bursts into tears and goes. Jamal shuts the door.

Simin: But what's happened?

Jamal: The last time, Touba was very upset with you.

Simin: I wanted to talk to her and clear up this misunderstanding, but I couldn't find her anywhere, I didn't see her in the yard or the kitchen either. Neither her nor Tara. And now Tara wouldn't even set foot in the room. I have to see Touba before we leave.

Scene Eight

Touba sits alone in the room. There is a bruise under her eye and she is agitated. After a few moments Simin comes in. Seeing her, Simin stops for a moment in surprise. Touba nods hello.

Simin: Touba!... I'm so glad you came, I looked everywhere for you.

Touba lowers her head.

Simin: What's happened, Touba? Who did this to you?

Touba says nothing.

Simin: Did your husband do this?

Touba nods yes.

Simin: Why?

Touba shakes her head as if to say "it doesn't matter." A heavy silence falls between them. Touba is agitated.

Simin: What's the matter? Why are you so restless?

Touba: (with difficulty)... I... I... I

Simin: Touba! You can talk?

Touba: (trying to control herself) For... Go...d's sake help me... I'm begging... you...

Simin: What's happened?

Touba: Tara... Tara... (Touba weeps hard)

Simin: Has something happened to Tara? For God's sake, Touba. Tara what?

Touba: They... want to give Tara away.

Simin: What do you mean?

Touba: In a few days... they want... to marry her off.

Simin: What are you saying, Touba?! She's still a child.

Touba: Yes... but here it's the custom... a black custom... today they took her to the bazaar... bought her clothes and dolls and...lots of pretty things... so she won't understand what's going to happen to her.

Touba weeps.

Simin: The same thing they did to you?

Touba nods yes.

Simin: Why don't you talk to your husband? Ask him not to do it.

Touba: I did. But... he won't... listen. He says he's given his word... to his cousin.

Simin: What do you mean, given his word?

Touba: The same... the same thing that... they did to me.

Simin: What does Tara herself say?

Touba: She's a child... she doesn't understand these things. That day when... you gave her that dress she came... put it on all excited and said... I'm a bride. The world... fell... on my head. I thought... you... had told her something... to make her say that... I didn't know what... I was doing. I tore the dress off her and... hit her. She was so... frightened. Then I found out... her grandmother had told her about weddings and... being a bride... I don't want her... to be doomed like me. For God's sake... help me.

Simin: What can I do?... Do you want me to talk to your husband?

Touba: No. He... he... if he finds out I came to you...there'll be hell to pay.

Simin: What do you want from me?

Touba: Take Tara with you.

Simin: What?!

Touba: Take her... with you. Don't let her... be doomed like me.

Simin: But how?

Touba: You're my... only hope. Take Tara... with you. I'm begging you.

Simin: I don't know what to do. This is impossible.

Touba: You don't know... what will happen to her. You don't know... her wedding night and after... what she'll have to bear... I can't watch... her... life turn out like mine.

Simin: I know what you're saying, Touba dear. Even thinking about it is horrible, but what can I do?

Touba: At... her age... I loved school and studying. I was the best... pupil in the school. My dream was... to be our village teacher. But... one day... they didn't let me go to school any more. And a while after that... they married me off. By the time I understood... what had happened to me... it was far too late... all my dreams were gone, the wind blew out my candle... from the day after my wedding... I didn't want to talk to anyone any more... I hated everyone...I hated myself. Every night when my husband came to me I... shut my eyes and prayed to die... if I can't stop... this marriage... I'll... I'll kill her myself.

Simin: What are you saying, Touba?!

Touba: Her dying... is better than this life... you don't know what I've been through... death is better than a whole lifetime... of living like this. I'll kill myself and her... together.

Simin: Don't talk like that.

Touba: There's no... way out. I've been in it. Every... day when I woke up I... prayed this would... be my last day... (she weeps) I wish when... I set myself on fire to be free of it... they hadn't saved me... if Tara hadn't been born... I'd have finished myself off a hundred times by now. But when... Tara was born I only stayed alive so... so I wouldn't let her life turn out like mine... I won't let... I won't let Tara be... wretched like me.

Touba gets up to leave.

Simin: Wait, Touba. There must be a way.

Touba: Either you... take her with you. Or I won't let... the music and... drums of Tara's wedding... echo through this village.

Touba goes. Simin holds her head in her hands and sits in a corner, at a loss.

Scene Nine

Jamal paces the room nervously.

Jamal: Do you even know what you're saying?

Simin: I know what...

Jamal: No, by God, you don't. Oh God... have you gone mad?

Simin: Stop it. Can you sit down for a moment... please.

Jamal sits, but is still agitated. A moment of silence between them. After a few moments both look at each other as if about to say something, and change their minds. After a few moments:

Jamal: Go on...

Simin: I've told you everything you needed to know.

Jamal: No, say something that makes sense.

Simin: Nothing that's happened here lately has made sense... for example you, I suddenly find out the man who survived the avalanche with me isn't a man at all.

Jamal: Don't mix my story up with this business.

Simin: Why? What's the difference?

Jamal: The difference is I came here myself to change my life.

Simin: Tara needs her life to change too.

Jamal: You say lovely things. How about you go and talk to Tara's father and persuade him he mustn't marry Tara off?

Simin: I wish I could.

Jamal: Simin, what you're saying is very dangerous. These people are fierce about their honour. This is one of their red lines. You can't cross this border.

Simin: But we're here to cross the border.

Jamal: For God's sake don't play with words... yes, we want to cross the border, and that's exactly why you mustn't get mixed up in this. You mustn't lock horns with this man. Or you could ruin everything. He's been very kind to us so far.

Simin: You only think about yourself.

Jamal: Of course. Because I've got no one who thinks about me. Neither have you.

Simin: Tara and Touba haven't got anyone either.

Jamal: They've got each other.

Simin: I can't get Touba's words out of my head. She was very determined.

Jamal: To do what?

Simin: Not to let Tara become a bride, at any price.

Jamal: No. She won't do anything.

Simin: What if she does?

Jamal: I don't know.

Simin: I know. The guilt will never leave us.

Jamal: Stop it, Simin.

Simin: When I think about why I ended up here. Why now? There must have been a reason.

Jamal: What reason? Don't tell me you think you came here to be Tara's saviour.

Simin: Maybe. Maybe this time the lot fell to crazy me.

Jamal: That you're crazy, I've no doubt.

Simin: So will you help?

Jamal: No... look, Simin dear, right now we have to think only of ourselves.

Simin: If I was only supposed to think of myself, why should I have helped you?

Jamal: I'm grateful to you, really grateful, but you're not here to change the world.

Simin: But maybe I can change Tara's world.

Jamal: No. You want to get us both killed.

Simin: We were in Mahsa's revolution, weren't we?... And in Dey we went out too, only in the hope of making some change. You said yourself a lot of things did happen, and now we're here and we can make a change.

Jamal: Those two are very different.

Simin: How are they different? Here too you have to stand up to something wrong. There it was bullets and prison, here too... we crossed the border in those days, why can't we now?

Jamal: Because this border is very sensitive. Behind it there's a century of beliefs and traditions that you can't even question, let alone cross.

Simin: When something's wrong you have to stand up to it, even if there's a century of beliefs and tradition behind it. I'm ready to give up everything I have to help Tara... What? Why are you looking at me like that?

Jamal: I don't know what to say.

Simin: If you can't think of a way, you'd better say nothing.

Scene Ten

Simin sits by her suitcase, packing her things. There is a knock at the door.

Simin: Come in.

The door opens and Tara comes in. Simin gets up and hugs her.

Simin: Hello, sweetheart.

Tara: (heavily) Hello.

Simin: Are you all right?

Tara: (sadly)... Yes.

Simin: What's happened, Tara dear? Why are you so sad?

Tara cries. Simin hugs her again.

Simin: Don't cry, sweetheart. Everything will be all right.

Tara: My grandma says I have to become a bride.

Simin: Do you know what that means?

Tara: My grandma says like me and my mum... but I don't want to be like my mum... does it mean after my wedding I won't be able to talk any more, like my mum?

Simin: Sweetheart, you're still much too young to be thinking about these things.

Tara: But my grandma says she and my mum both became brides at this age.

Simin: But that's not going to happen to you. Things are different now...

Tara: They bought me a wedding dress... they threaded my face too... it hurt a lot.

Simin: What does your mum say?

Tara: She just cries... that day they threaded my face, when she saw me she slapped me.

Simin: Why?

Tara: I don't know...then she held me tight and cried.

Simin: Everything will be all right, Tara dear.

Tara: Are you leaving?

Simin: Yes, sweetheart, it looks like it's time to go.

Tara: I wish I could come with you.

Simin: Really?

Tara: Yes... I'm scared of my mum... my mum's changed.

Simin: Why do you say that?

Tara: Last night she put a pillow over my face and pressed. I nearly suffocated. Then she took the pillow away and held me again and cried.

Simin: Do you really want to come with me?

Tara: If I come with you, I won't have to be a bride any more?

Simin: No, sweetheart, you won't have to.

Tara: My mum doesn't love me any more. She tore my wedding dress, then my dad beat her badly. She told me to come and ask you what you're going to do...

Simin: Why?

Tara: I don't know. She said you'd know.

There is a knock at the door.

Simin: Yes?

Villager's voice: Hello, ma'am. May I come in?

Tara: (looks at Simin in terror and speaks softly) If my dad finds out I'm here, he'll kill me.

Simin looks around her. There is nowhere for Tara to hide. Suddenly her eyes fall on the suitcase. She tips all the clothes and things out of it and tells Tara to hide inside. Hesitantly, Tara gets into the suitcase, and Simin shuts the lid. Then she goes to the door and opens it. Jamal and the villager come in.

Simin: Hello. Excuse the mess. I was packing my things to leave.

Villager: Hello, ma'am. Sorry to disturb you.

Simin: Not at all. Come in. Has something happened?

Jamal: We're leaving sooner.

Simin: How come?

Villager: We very much wanted you to be at our celebration, but it's been put off a little. And the weather has cleared now. You'd better go. I'm afraid you'll get stuck here again.

Simin: Whatever you think best.

Villager: It's a shame we couldn't host you at our celebration.

Simin: You've already been so kind to us.

Villager: A guest is God's beloved.

Simin: Thank you very much.

Villager: Then start getting ready, God willing you'll set off tomorrow or the day after, towards sunset. Excuse me.

The villager leaves.

Jamal: (breathing a sigh of relief) Well, thank God, we're really going.

Simin opens the suitcase and Tara climbs out. Jamal is taken aback.

Jamal: Oh God... Simin, have you gone mad?

Simin: There was nowhere else to hide her.

Jamal: Do you know what would have happened if he'd found out you'd hidden his daughter in a suitcase?

Tara: Sorry. It wasn't Simin khanom's fault.

Jamal: Why did you come here?

Tara: My mum told me to come and ask what you're going to do.

Jamal: What does that mean?

Tara: I don't know. (to Simin) What shall I tell my mum?

Simin looks into Tara's eyes.

Simin: You really want to come with me.

Tara lowers her head and nods yes. Simin hugs her and kisses her.

Simin: Tell her I've agreed... what will you say?

Tara: I'll say you've agreed.

Simin: Good girl. You're not scared, are you? You know you have to be very brave.

Tara nods yes.

Simin: Good girl. Now go to your mum. What will you say?

Tara: I'll say you've agreed.

Simin opens the door, looks around, then sends Tara on her way and shuts the door.

Jamal: You've agreed?

Simin: (excited) Yes.

Jamal: You don't even know what you're saying.

Simin: Now I'm sure.

Jamal: I'm not.

Simin: Yes you are. And you're a good person. You have to help. Do you know Touba wanted to kill her so her fate wouldn't be like her own?

Jamal: That'll pass. Don't take it seriously. What mother kills her own daughter?

Simin: Touba. I saw in her eyes how determined she is. She came here yesterday and said she won't let the music and drums of Tara's wedding echo through this village.

Jamal: She told you herself.

He mimics Touba's way of talking with his hands.

Simin: No, she really said it. She spoke. With difficulty, and bitterly. She told me about herself and what she's suffered. And that she'd rather Tara died than have a life like hers. And last night she put a pillow over Tara's face and tried to smother her.

Jamal: Hear it, but don't believe it.

Simin: Even if you're right... tell me, how can you leave Tara here to this bitter fate and go? When you could have helped her? The guilt will stay with you for ever.

Jamal: Simin, you're worked up right now. You don't even know what a huge thing you're talking about. It's beyond you. Do you know what a huge responsibility it is? Do you know what this same kind, hospitable man, who always says a guest is God's beloved, will do to us if you're found out? Have you thought about that?

Simin: What was that poem you were reciting? No fisherman will ever catch a pearl in a little stream that empties into a mean pit.

Jamal: This isn't a pearl. You're going whale hunting.

Simin: Not me. Us. I helped you, now it's your turn to help me.

Jamal: There's no way we can take her with us.

Simin: You're always predicting disaster!... And if we don't succeed... I don't know... there's no colour darker than black.

Jamal: Tell me, how are you going to take her with you without her father finding out?

Simin: Since yesterday that question has been driving me mad... until just a few minutes ago...

Jamal: What happened? You suddenly had a revelation, so you told Tara you'd agreed?

Simin: I don't know if it was a revelation or something else, but now I've found the way.

Jamal: Well?

Simin goes to the suitcase, opens it and looks at Jamal.

Jamal: Now I'm sure you've lost your mind.

Simin: Why? You saw it yourself, until she came out of it you had no idea she was in there.

Jamal: Tell me, you don't think this is a film and you're the star, do you?!

Simin: Well, imagine it really is a film. What's happened so far is no less than a film. So let's play our parts well.

Jamal: It's like I'm stuck in a terrible dream.

Simin: Oh stop it. First it was a film, now you're dreaming. If you don't want to help, please stop talking nonsense.

Jamal: Nonsense?! You want to stuff a child into a suitcase and drag her to the border along with her own father, and I'm the one talking nonsense.

Simin: You didn't say the rest... I want to get her across the border. With you or without you.

Scene Eleven

The stage is dark and we only hear the voices.

Jamal: Ready?

Simin: Yes.

Jamal: May God just help us.

The sound of the room's door opening.

Villager: You've gone so pale. Are you scared?

Jamal: No, just excited.

Villager: In a few hours you'll be on the other side of the border.

Jamal: God willing.

Villager: Then let's go.

After a few moments the sound of a car starting is heard. It moves off and gradually fades away.

After a few more moments the stage lights up. The room is empty. Clothes and books are scattered around it. The door opens and Touba comes in. Seeing this, she breathes a sigh of relief. She is happy, and her happiness slowly grows. Local folk music is heard. Joyfully, Touba starts to dance among the clothes. The stage slowly goes dark.

The End.

Summer 2026 (1405)

Translator's notes

Qavut: a traditional snack of roasted grains and seeds ground into a sweet powder.

Threading: removing facial hair with twisted thread, traditionally done to a bride before her wedding.

Dey: the tenth month of the Iranian calendar, roughly late December to January.

The verses quoted in Scene Four are by the Iranian poet Forough Farrokhzad, as the characters say. The English versions of the poetry in this play are Owrang's own.