In Barghan, there was a woman who had gotten a divorce because she couldn’t have children. Since she was both divorced and young and beautiful, her mother didn’t want her to stay in Barghan. She would say, “You should go to Tehran and live with your brothers!” It seemed like my father was supposed to take her to Tehran and entrust her to her brothers, but while they were there, they got married.
My father and his wife, Aziz, didn’t come for a month. During that time, I managed Barghan on my own at the age of fourteen. I sold the wheat they brought, stored the remainder in sacks, and handled the money. Later, we supplied wheat from the storage. One of the laborers used to steal wheat from the storage at night. When I wanted to go home, I first leveled the wheat on the ground and then marked it with a pickaxe. He did the same thing, taking the wheat and marking it himself. When I returned in the morning, I would see everything was in order. I was just a child and didn’t know whether those markings were mine or someone else’s.
We didn’t make much profit from this business. Later on, we found out that he used to fill his sack at night and take it away. A month later, my father returned. Later, we learned that he had married a woman in Tehran during that time. In the meantime, my mother and the kids also came to Borghan to live. She had found out about the situation on her way there.
One night, the kids were asleep, and only my father and I were awake. I said, “You didn’t do the right thing. This situation will create differences and problems in the family. Now that you’ve done this, it’s not possible to have one house in Tehran, one in Barghan, and one in Dorvan. This kind of life won’t work.” He asked, “What should I do about your mother?” I said, “Don’t worry about her. Manage the house over there, and I’ll handle things here. We have to be careful not to disrupt our lives.”
The other issue was convincing Aziz. My father was worried that she might not agree to live in Barghan. I said, “She’s with me. I’ll convince her.” In short, the next morning, we headed to Tehran, and her rented house was close to the Edam square. Aziz’s brothers also lived in the vicinity, and they were there when we arrived. That night, when the guests had left, I stayed behind with my father and Aziz, and my father brought up the matter. Aziz said, “This is a problem. I don’t know if I can live with these people or not.” I said, “My mother has issues with my father and doesn’t want to see him. She’s not the jealous type, so you can live with her.” I told her, “It’s best if you come to Barghan. If you stay here, neither you will have the husband nor we will have a father.” In the end, she accepted. The next day, we got a Chevrolet van, gathered our belongings, and went to Karaj, and then to Barghan. Of course, my mother was aware of this and agreed to it.