The Child of Events!

by Teymur Roshdi

  Anyway , after the lunch , 'sherven' ,suddenly ,as if he remembered some duty he was responsible of , went changing his clothes , instead of his university clothes , he put on a grey military uniform and born a new model of revolver whose holster belt was fixed on his shoulder . Sherven in this uniform looked like a brave army commander , but his fiancee was not in agreement with him because she was afraid of the happening of some bad accident in those chaotic social circumstances and she was worrying about his endeavour of involving himself in these critical days in some voluntary paramilitary actions against the agitators , the pirates and all sort of armed groups of evil-doers . In fact his duty was dangerous , because he joined the young guards army as a voluntary , designated by the municipality to assure the security of the city and its population against the the groups of agitators and thieves who were attacking , pillaging and killing defenseless and innocent people . Apparently , 'sherven' was nominated as the chief of that young guards army . Although he was a student in the engineering university , he was proud to serve the society by assuring the security of its population , indeed he had such an heroical soul that he was ready to sacrifice himself for the cause of the discriminated people , the poors , the helpless and the oppressed ones against all sort of injustice and this was considered a reward for him without expecting something more . Sherven after greeting kindly his parents and fiancee , gave me a box of colour pencils , kissed me and went out . I remained there , occupying myself with the painting books and the colour pencils the whole afternoon , then after thanked 'sherven' 's mother , I expressed my farewell to the whole family and left them before the twilight in the direction of the house of the 'charitable woman' .

  The house of the 'charitable woman' was located in the northern part of the same street , so I could walk this way by my own . While I was keeping joyfully the gifts of 'sherven' in my hands and walking cheerfully toward the home , I noticed a guy of almost eighteen relying with a sort of nonchalance to some door and was looking at me with his eyes full of wickedness . There are always in all circumstances , during wars , social unrest or even at peaceful times , some mean , wicked or 'diabolic' people stalking for an opportunity to mistreat , to mock , to attack ,to rob or even to kill the others to satisfy their lowest instincts , or to nurture the beast hidden in their nature . The guy like a wild animal or rather like a demon jumped beside me and with his harsh voice screamed :" hey , miserable creature , where are you going in such a hurry ? don't move if not I will cut your head with this knife!" . Terryfied by this sudden and crazy threat , I left falling all the gifts I had in my hands , shouted and cried out of fear and moved away . By my shout and crying a young girl appeared in front of one of the doors , took me in her arms and began scolding the wicked guy and then gathered all the gifts fell on the ground and gave them all to me , she brought me near the door of her home . At this moment , her mother after hearing all the noises and learning what happened gave me a glass of water to comfort me . The young girl and her mother were looking at me with lot of kindness , when the girl was caressing my head and looking carefully at my face told to her mother :" oh my god , what a cute child ! mama , see what an amazing and deep expression have his eyes ! how people can mistreat such a beautiful child !" . This was the first time that in my young ages I was hearing someone admiring my look and my physical aspect. After a while , when I felt comforted I looked at the face of the young girl and remembered that I had already seen her in that leisure park in company of her fiance 'dr.pagra' . She didn't know me , but I knew her very well , she was famous for her great beauty and her elegance , so almost everyone in the town knew her . After drinking the water , the young girl cleaned my tears with her silk handkerchief and asked her mother to allow her to accompanying me till the door of my home . Her mother didn't agree to let her going alone because of all the dangers and the unsafety of all the streets so she intended coming with her daughter accompanying me till my home . The daughter was proud of her humanity and her sense of compassion toward all the needy people and she said that if she had the power and the opportunity , her very wish was to make happy all miserable people by all means . These words were pronounced with such an honesty that I could see the reflect of its veracity in her green eyes . At this moment the sound of a stopping dark coloured car warned all of us . Some of the young boys who where gathered there because of my shout and crying , by noticing the presence of that car and its occupants who were all weird and gross looking gunmen , moved back in a corner and whispered :" indeed , these are the same gunmen who attacked the house of the jewellery store owner and pillaged all!" . One of those boys with his eyes opened strangely out of fear said:" I will go informing my father to call the security guards" and he went quickly toward his home . Meanwhile , after seeing the gross shape and look of those men with their gunmachine in their hands , I moved aside . They were four people and one of them stayed in the car while the three others wearing a sort of mask which covered their eyes , jumped in front of the green-eyes girl and one of them asked with an authoritarian tone if her father was at home or not . The girl was so upset that with a trembling voice replied :"no , my father went to the village for some affairs", then the same man pushed the girl inside the house and while taking harshly her arm in his hand said : "then , come in please , we have some affair with you ", the girl out of fear and terror replied : "but who are you ? and what are you searching for here ? my father is not at home!" , one of those men said :"we know that you keep contraband goods and products in your house , we should examine that ". At this moment the mother of the girl who looked pale and terrorized could just say :" I assure you , we never keep contraband products , after all who are you? you don' t seem being governmental agents , what you want from us?...." . The men didn't allow them to continue their protestation , they just pushed them violently indoor and the girl began excruciating shouting and desperately called for the help of her fiance and her mother . They tied her mouth with a handkerchief and pushed her in one of the rooms . Her mother after seeing this spectacle , fell unconscious on the ground . The dark car of the gunmen was stopped a bit away of the door of the house . Meanwhile I saw a man in the left side of the street running fastly toward the attacked house . He was so upset and out of himself that his face looked like dead , I recognized hime , he was the same 'dr.pagra', the fiance of that girl I mentioned previously . The gunman inside the car was surprised by this unexpected arrival and before reacting , 'dr.pagra' runned to the direction of the stairs . The principal door of the house was completely open , but this fact didn't disturb the gunmen because they knew that the town was almost empty and no one dared confronting them because of all the disorder which ruled over the society . All their attacks were so violent and dreadful that no one was equiped properly to fight against them and they knew that . These robbers and murderers had already made up a very large gangsters organization which was ruling over the city and all the population were aware of that and never involved themselves in fighting against them . One of those three men inside the house noticed the arrival of 'dr.pagra' moving up the stairs , beat him so violently and unexpectedly that 'dr.pagra' who apparently was not familiar with the boxing and fighting technics , before coming at the rescue of his fiancee , fell on the ground moveless .

  At this time two old men appeared in front of the door of the house and once noticing the presence of that dark car , one of them said with a trembling voice :"this is the car of the chief of the gangsters , that is unclear who are the unfortunate and unlucky victims today !". I was in such a pityful and disturbing state that I couldn't go to them and telling that today was the turn of the most beautiful girl of the town who was supposed marrying her fiance , the same kind and compassionate girl whose very wish was to comfort and relieve all miserable ones from their burden and help all the poors and needy people , but I was somehow paralysed and shocked and couldn't move at all and I remained sp
eechless . Almost a quarter of an hour was past in a sort of terrifying silence . Few young people joined those two old men and were talking with horror about that crime and robbery . One of those young people who was supposedly an admirer of that beautiful girl , shouted with anger :" people ! why are you so coward ? why you don't hasten to help your fellow neighbours?" , but he couldn't finish his protestation speech because suddenly the gunman inside the car came out and went in front of that door and kept his gunmachine directly targetted toward the crowd and with his rude and harsh voice shouted :" get lost idiots .... if not I will pierce you like a stainer !" , but no one moved . Meanwhile we heard the sound of the trot of some horses coming from behind . They were the horses of the security guards who came automatically at the place of the tragic event since they have been informed. This group of security guards was led by 'sherven' , my old friend and protector , he was really impressive because of his stature and look . He stopped near the car of the gangsters and leaving his mount , he suggested to the three others doing the same , but these ones were apparently so young and so unexperimented that they couldn't improvise the extend of the danger and didn't react properly by manipulating quickly their guns . Although this was the first time that 'sherven' might face a real and fatal danger , but his boldness and courage based on his fighting technics provided to him such a self-confidence and calm that he moved fearlessly toward the main door , but before passing by it , the gunman shot in the air with his gunmachine and threatened all of them by saying :" don't move , or I will scatter all of you on the ground just like the tree leaves " , 'sherven' had his gun at his side in its holster , but he realized that the time of touching it , he could be shot dead , but he already had his leather belt in the hand , in a wink , by a simple gesture he grasped the canon of the gunmachine with his belt and turned it upward and then jumped on the gunman who was a gross shaped man of almost thirty five and after holding him began beating , a hard fight was occured between them , sherven tried to hold the gunmachine and to take it from the hands of that criminal because he was afraid that people around become wounded or killed , some moments 'sherven' had the advantage in the fight and some other moments his opponent was successful , but at the end , 'sherven' by a skillful gesture laid down the opponent and struke him so strongly that the gunman remained injured and moveless on the ground , meanwhile when he tried to take the gunmachine from the hand of his opponent , he noticed that the canon was broken and separated from the body of the gun .

  Sherven , without wasting a moment , took his gun and traversed the small space between the main door and the house , with the company of his fellow guards and the young man who was encouraging the others to fight against the gangsters , but before entering the house , one of the criminals who was hidden himself behind a tree shot toward 'sherven''s group but he missed the target , meanwhile the others in the house were about gathering the silver utensil and the jewellery they found in the house . Sherven realized that they can't enter the house by the stairs , so after looking carefully around he noticed the window of one of the room which was located almost one meter above the surface of the open space where they were , and in a jump he reached the interior of the house . At the same time , 'sherven''s friends encouraged by the boldness of their leader tried entering the house by the stairs but encountered the resistance of the gunman who was shooting unceasingly . Sherven , once in the interior of the house , found himself in front of one of those criminals who was about gathering objects of value in a suitcase , this one left the suitcase and targetted sherven and shot , but 'sherven' in a fast move avoided the gunshot and threw himself on the gunman , another fight was occuring and each one beat the other unconsiderately and violently . Meanwhile the fellow guards and friends of 'sherven' were trying to enter the house but they were threatened by the shot of the gunmachine , these ones wanted arresting the criminals alive and it seemed that the criminals goal was not to kill someone with their gun but just fighting and boxing , so the other thieves along with the gunmachine-man attacked 'sherven' and struke him without the least compassion and obviously they wanted to kill him in this way . So , they could fill the suitcase with all sort of objects of value and intended to leave , but in between the fight , the one who struke violently 'sherven' with his fatal beats lost his mask and I could see from the dark part of the corridor , the terrible face of the one who was not unknown for me , he was no one apart our dreadful enemy 'gorgon' .

  Among the crowd no one dared any intervention in such a person to person fight . Sherven 's pals in their turn were awaiting some opportune moment to get rid of the gunmachine-man 's shooting in the outdoor . Meanwhile , the forth criminal who fought 'sherven' and found his gunmachine broken entered inside to help his fellow thieves , with a sign from behalf 'gorgon' , this one beat so strongly with the body of his broken gunmachine on 'sherven''s head that he fell on the ground completly dizzy and astound . The crowd gathered outside proceeded entering the attacked house but the shooting of the gunmachine made them all moving back , at this moment , the criminals without wasting the least moment and having their suitcase full of robbed objects , got into their car and left the scenery .

  The crowd outdoor entered the house , 'sherven' retrieving his senses begun scolding his fellow guards for their shortcoming and failure to arrest the thieves , or rather those criminals , and then ordered that they scatter the crowd and send them to their own home . Not any sign of the inhabitants of the house , everyone was astonishing by this terrifying silence , suddenly the same young boy who previously was encouraging his pals to intervene against the criminals moved up the stairs and then shouted :" come here ! it seems that some people are imprisoned into the rooms !", the doors were locked , but they could open one of them and released the mother of the girl, who upset and terrified called desperately her daughter. Dr. Pagra was imprisoned in the same room , his look was terrible , wounded and with a face full of thrombosis , out of himself , he was looking for his fiancee and after hearing a groaning voice he moved forward the door of the room where his fiancee was imprisoned. Sherven and his friends could unlock the door with few strong beats , 'dr.pagra' precipitated inside and found his fiancee in a pathetic state . The young girl was unable to stand up . The scene I was witnessing impressed me so profoundly that even now after all these years passed by this event, it left an unforgettable impact on my mind . In this event , not an atroce murder was committed , but the troubling and harrowing screamings and groaning of that girl which was mixed with an horrible silence and astonishment , was more violent and more significant than any other openly atroce crime and murdering . The mother after finding her daughter in that state begun screaming like the crazy ones and scratching her face and pulling out her hair . The girl looked like someone sentenced to death who is spending her last moments of life , dizzy and astound ,she was walking with the help of her fiance , her eyes were soulless as if she was not able to see , she sat on the stairs and covered her face with her hands , the face which was like a flower , extremely beautiful ,fresh and full of life one hour ago , now looked blemished and fade . Her eyes were somehow exorbitant and looked in all directions with fear and terror , also she was whispearing meaningless and incomprehensible words , she was crying and then she fell inconscious and relied on 'dr.pagra''s shoulder , this one who didn't look better than the girl , brought her into the room .

  The darkness of the evening increased the dimensions of the sorrow and the sadness which reigned over that house . The crowd was still present in the outdoor and were talking about the atrocities and the misery happened to the inhabitants of the house . I should add that most people gathered there were the elderly ones , because of the civil war all the young ones were involved in a way in the battles and joined this or that army . Some others were working hard in the factories till late in the night . The old people with their impressive look formed an awesome group , they were all immerged in some
deep thoughts as if they were looking for some solution . Meanwhile an old man with a very sorrowful face joined the crowd and appeared in front of the attacked house . I recognized him , he was the same influential personality who supported our orphanage in the past , the same man who accepted to feed me once a day in those disturbing times of famine I was a charge for the 'charitable woman' . Everyone looked with a great respect to him as if they expected that this very man find a solution for all the troubles our society was suffering . He approched 'sherven' and cheered him up for having put his life in danger to save the oppressed ones . Also some of the respectful women of the neighbourhood came to console and comfort the victims of this incident . Dr.Pagra was in a desperate state , very sad he was sitting on the stairs plunged in very bitter thoughts . Sherven , no one expected that he could stand save after the fatal encounter with the criminals , approched 'dr.pagra' , took his hands and expressed his compassion and promised that by all means he and his fellow guards would extinguish the center of this criminal organisation and would punish properly all of its members . Meanwhile one of the old men who was complaining about the disturbing circumstances under which they lived all , said to our influential charitable man :" sir , until when this state of things would last , until when we should suffer all these atrocities and crimes ? you are the head of a charitable institution , why you do nothing to cure all this pain ? why you don't ask the creation of some more effective and more regular armed forces to repress and punish all these criminals ?". The outdoor of the house was now full of people , the influential charitable man who remained silent and thoughtful till now shaked his head and said :" dear people , you ask me creating some other armed forces to repress all the agitators and to end the corruption , trouble and crimes and to establish order and peace ? of course this sort of revendications are apparently appropriate and logical , but I don't think that the destruction of some other group of people who are following a wrong path and the death penalty for them would be a good solution , because maybe some other group of people momentarily would enjoy an ordinary daily life , but I genuinely believe that the annihilation of the evil-doers and the criminals is not always the best solution , just like with an injured part of the body , the amputation is not always suggested . They need to be reeducated and assisted , because they are the sick ones . We can never end a war by creating another war , by destroying the agitators , the agitation and the unrest would never end and the armed forces are not always the guarantee of the order and peace ..." . So this respectful charitable man was talking about moral values and reeducation for almost half an hour , he had somehow a spiritual and heavenly look , as if he was not of this world or he didn't belong to this world . Anyway after a while this otherworldly man with the company of some of his acquaintances disappeared from our sight and the crowd followed him .