Panj Ganeh

 

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The five stories in this collection take place in five different locations. They symbolize the staging points during the trip that refugees make from one culture to another.

fragment

For mister Hosseinalipour everything here is new.

He looks around with his eyes wide open, from left to right, from right to left, behind him and then again in front of him. If nobody had grabbed him by the arm, he could have been overrun by a car or fallen into a canal. Last week it was four years ago that his wife and child left him. Now he has finally decided to also leave his country and go abroad.

When his wife Masoeme went to Europe, he would not even consider going with her and also later on the idea of travelling after her made him unhappy. But family and friends had frightened him in recent months and now the poor man had to go. He was a simple man, who did everything as neat as possible, as an obedient child, he always did his best, he went to the office on time and arrived back home on time. He had a job at an insurance company. Esmaïl was absolutely reliable, anyone could count on him, he was known for his responsibility. Masoeme was the only one who did not appreciate him.

He met her at the office. Masoeme came along with questions about her life insurance and her file was accidentally with mister Hosseinalipour. He fell for her in a second  but maybe that was because he knew no other women. This lady from Tehran who was about to be a spinster, had used all her charms to impress this poor provincial man and he fell into her trap without even understanding how. A month later the name of his client was changed into Mrs. Hosseinalipour and she became the owner of fifteen gold coins that, according to the contract, did not really belong to her until they unexpectedly divorced.