Together Tea by Marjan Kamali

downtown anymore.
    â€œPlease?” Mina pleaded with Darya on a rainy Friday. She held her Snoopy handbag in one hand and the keys to the car in another.
    â€œNo.”
    â€œBut why?”
    â€œBecause there are demonstrations going on, Mina. It’s not safe.”
    Just then Hooman and Kayvon marched through the living room, their fists in the air. “Death to the Shah!” they yelled. “No more king!”
    Mina’s stomach started to feel strange.
    â€œBoys, did you finish your homework? Stop this nonsense and focus,” Baba said.
    â€œWe will not talk about kings or politics in this home,” Darya said.
    Her brothers stopped reluctantly. Baba collapsed into a chair, looking exhausted. Darya looked out the window, her eyes glassy and distant.
    FOR MONTHS THE DEMONSTRATIONS IN the streets continued. Baba would come home bewildered and mention that a cinema or a bank had been set on fire. Darya would receive the news in silence. Hooman and Kayvon sometimes cheered. They were slowly becoming prisoners in their own home, unable to venture too far outside.
    It was Darya who said the word first. She said it at dinner, right after she passed a bowl of sautéed eggplants and smashed tomatoes to Mina. “There is a revolution going on. Enghelab. ” Mina hadn’t heard that word before. Enghelab . It sounded so powerful. Hooman had to explain to her what it meant: a rotation that could turn the world upside down. This “revolution” was going on outside the walls of their house and yet, to Mina’s disappointment, her parents were doing nothing to stop it. In fact, sometimes she even thought they liked it. Baba listened to the BBC on his radio constantly. Darya called her sister and asked where the demonstrations were taking place and how many people had shown up. Darya seemed torn, as if she didn’t know whether the demonstrations would result in something wonderful or something horrendous.
    Later that night, Mina scolded Hooman and Kayvon for yelling bad things about the Shah. She hated that they liked to imitate the demonstrators. Hooman and Kayvon ignored her and continued to repeat slogans as if they were in a pretend parade in the living room. Mina started to hit them and soon the three of them were on the floor wrestling. Baba and Darya stood there motionless watching the three kids fighting on the floor.
    â€œEnough!” Baba yelled.
    â€œThey’re saying bad things about the Shah,” Mina said in a small voice.
    â€œLook at that!” Hooman got up slowly. “Look how they’ve brainwashed her!”
    Kayvon wiped his nose. A trail of blood trickled from his nostril, over his lips, and down his chin.
    â€œInto the bathroom, now!” Baba said. “Both of you, now !”
    From the living room, Mina heard the bathroom faucet turn on and could make out some of Baba’s furious lecture. She heard him say “brothers,” “fighting,” “absurd,” and “gentlemen.” She heard Hooman mumbling. She could imagine Baba washing the blood from Kayvon’s nose with Darya’s yellow washcloth.
    Darya turned to Mina. “There’s absolutely no need . . .” She trailed off. “For you to worry. About this . . . stuff.”
    â€œBita says the youth are going to kick the Shah out. Kick him out of the country and bring in a new leader for the people.” Mina wasn’t sure what a new leader meant, but she assumed it meant an evil king.
    â€œNever mind, Mina,” Darya said. “This king is far from perfect. He’s done some horrible things.”
    Mina froze. Her own mother was like one of those demonstrators in the street. If the authorities heard her, they would accuse her of being a criminal woman. Mina’s hands felt clammy as she remembered all the things that happened to people who spoke against the king. Torture. Execution. They had been taught in school about