Day 3

Naghmeh Samini
Wednesday 30 January 2019

The Father is sitting in a rocking chair. He is 75 years old. No emotion in his face. The woman is sitting in front of him. She looks uncomfortable and restless.

The Woman: How did you find me?

The Father: How did you escape me?

The Woman: You know everything.

The Father: How do I have to know everything?

The Woman: Because of the news.

The Father: What news?

The Woman: The news I have heard.

The Father: What news have you heard?

The Woman: You know that better than me, father.

The Father: I don’t.

The Woman: I am not going to tell you.

Pause

The Father: Where are you now?

The Woman: You should know everything.

The Father: I know you went kharej! (abroad)

The Woman: I did. I went to London.

The Father: How did you go? I was always watching you, with open eyes. Every night, I slept after you, and every morning I woke up before you. But one day, I opened my eyes, and you were not in your bed.

The Woman: Did you get angry?

The Father: At first I was shocked. Then, I got angry and called your sisters one by one, the three of them. They all came to my home pretending they don’t know anything. But I know that they knew everything.

The Woman: No, they didn’t!

The Father: So, how did you escape without their help?

The Woman: With the Help of my ex-boyfriend.

The Father: What is ex-boyfriend?

The Woman: Don’t you know the meaning of ex-boyfriend? Or just the meaning of ex?

The Father: Neither of them.

The Woman: Liar!

The Father: I am your father!

The Woman: Why don’t you leave me alone? Why did you chase me here to this town?

The Father: I wanted to know where you live now.

The Woman: I live nowhere.

The Father: Where is nowhere?

The Woman: Everywhere I am is nowhere.

The Father: Where is this everywhere now? Are you in London?

The Woman: No! I am in St Andrews

The Father: Are you in the belly of a holy man?

The Woman: I wish I was. Then I could stay there forever…I remember you once told us the story of a holy man who never shat. And I thought that food waste remained in his belly forever.

The Father: I didn’t tell you those stupid things.

The Woman: Maybe! I had this wild dream of escaping your crazy limitations. Any way… St. Andrews is the name of the city. Years ago, a king established a monastery in a village near the sea. The village then became a town which was named after a saint whose body parts were apparently buried here. But one day the town will shit me out. One day, perhaps less than one month from now.

The Father: How is it like? The town I mean.

The Woman: Like a doll city. I don’t feel this is real. 3 main streets, some narrow alleys, and a ruined castle and cathedral. The town has everything but in a small scale. What I really love about the town are four big red clocks on a tall tower.

The Father: What is interesting about the clocks?

The Woman: The interesting thing is that you hated clocks and the colour red …Oh! I am so lucky that you can’t speak Persian here. If you could, you would curse me here and now. But now you have to leave. Listen to the sound of the old red clocks. It is morning now, and you have to go… you have to go.

The Father: Why can’t I speak in Persian? Why did we speak in English when, in fact, I don’t even know how to say a single word in English?

The Woman: Because we were in my nightmare, which is now over… over. Good morning father! Time, to go.

Darkness

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