Amir Parsa: [Attempt at the Reconstruction] Fragment III

1.

When you took me there, you sat outside?

No, I sat right next to you.

Paloom? Right there where I was learning piano?

Yes.

Har da’fe?

Yes, she wouldn’t tell me not to.

2.

First when I took you we went to the center. The school.

…

Then, she said let’s go home, and so I took you to her home… Took you to her home.

…

Then, it was just you.

3.

So she taught at the school?

Yeah.

So we met her there?

Yeah, we met her there.

…

She was a teacher there and had students there too.

Where was her home?

Her home was in Karim Khan-e zand.

Was it big?

No it was an apartment.

How many bedrooms did it have?

I don’t know.

You don’t know how many rooms it had?

No, she was a woman living alone. Living alone. No husband. No kids. She never was married.

Not that we know. She was Armenian.

Yes I know.

So she’d never…

You never really talked about much? Because when you go to someone’s home…

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She never offered tea or coffee or?

Not really.

You don’t remember anything from the home?

No, very simple. Small room. No big decorations. No fancy furniture.

You don’t remember a photo, or something special?

Not really.

Hitchi?!

Not really…

Hitchi hitchi?

…

Where she was born, how she grew up… Anything…

She was born in Tehran, that I know…

Last Draft (2)

1.

Oh so she was born in Tehran. So when you say Armenian, what does that mean?

She was an Iranian Armenian.

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Let me tell you this… At the time, for Iranians, anyone who was a Christian, they called them Armenian.

2.

They’ve learned now, but then… Even I still make a mistake, I see someone and I say een Armanié…

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So you know your aunt Susie for example, we would say she’s massihi, but we would say she’s Armenian.

Susie from Texas with the Texas twang?

Yeah, we’d say she was Armani.

…

Yeah, and some people would say come on now, you should know this… but in Iran, they do that. Still now, they’d call someone who’s massihi Armani

Would she talk a lot?

No, she would not say anything. She was a teacher, a serious teacher. She wouldn’t sit and chat around. She wasn’t a friend. Maybe nowadays they come and chat, but she was a serious teacher.

3.

She says she doesn’t remember a thing. Not a photo on the mantel, of a child, a mother, family, nothing. Nothing about the apartment too. The color of the walls, the furniture. Okay, the color of the walls yes: beige. Beige, why beige? Because all the Iranians had beige as the color of their walls.

Now that I think about it, maybe she lived with her mother, she says. I ask her why she thinks Ms. P. lived with her mother. I’m not sure, maybe the fact that she lived alone. I ask again about the home, hoping it induces some type of memory. What about the furniture, I ask her. Very normal. Yeah, very normal… And if this were the room, this is where the piano is. What is really chic? It was really nice, yes, she says, nice piano…

And the whole thing was that she would say, when she saw me, een tchemaye ahoo ro ki bé tow dadé?

Ki dadé be tow…

She had an accent? Why did she have an accent if she was Iranian?

No you know, a way of… because Massihia…

You mean Armaniah?

Yeah, right… Since you know, they lived together… The mother wasn’t born there… the father wasn’t…

…

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So she had a way of talking?

Yeah a way of talking…

Ki da-dé bé tow…

It’s the only thing…

…

Ki da-dé bé tow…

Find out where she is find out if she’s alive if she’s alive maybe I’ll – no don’t what for I’m not sure don’t maybe that much more – I’ll ask that school maybe at the school they’ll know maybe – I might go and see really and ask and – maybe they’ll know maybe if she’s alive they’ll know and you know she was a teacher so they’ll know – where did she how did she – Khanoom P – what else what else, nothing else Khanoom P nothing else nothing –

Next time I go I’ll try next time I’ll try to ask if she – they’ll know the school they’ll know they must I know they’ll know they must really – I’ll ask they’ll know if she’s alive – for sure they’ll know someone who’ll know they –

Ask if she’s alive she lived right there Karim Khan-e Zand I’ll go ask around – no don’t what for let me – what for – ask if not there then the school they must know somehow no they must – their teachers sometimes they stay in touch with their teachers for sure somehow – not sure you should not sure what it – I will.

I will. Next time I go, I will ask. I’ll try to find her. See if she’s still alive. And I’ll say, Khanoom Patmagryan, someone is looking for you.

Last Draft (3)

I’m not.

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I’m not looking for her.

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