Waiting for Abbas 9:
The Last Tears
After the end of an operation, most of [Abbas's] companions returned to their
houses, but [Abbas] didn't. The next day, I heard that one lady was saying: "It
is as if Mr. Karimi doesn’t care too much for his family!"
It seems that her husband had met Abbas at the front and had asked him if he
wanted to return or not, and Abbas had answered: "Why?" When [that man] returned
and saw that Abbas hadn’t come, he said these words.
Truly, my heart ignited at hearing those words. The following night, one or two
hours had barely passed after midnight [when] Abbas came. As soon as I opened
the door for him, I surrendered to crying. He [became] very alarmed and asked me
with a lot of worry: "Did anything happen in Kashan? Why are you crying?!"
I had never cried in front of him before, [and] I had always endured
difficulties. [Those] were the first and last [tears] in front of him. I said:
"I was worried about you, and not for myself or anyone else."
He asked: "What happened?"
I said: "One of your friends…"
As soon as I said this, he understood the issue [and] said: "Someone must have
said something."
While I was still crying I said: "Yes."
He said: "The issue is definitely due to my not coming yesterday. Did he say
anything?"
I said: "Yes, yesterday you had no work and despite that you didn’t come."
He said: "And do you believe such [talk]?"
I said:"No".
He said: "Fine, then why are you crying?'
I said: "I missed you!"
He said: "If you know me well, then don’t lend your ear to such [talk]. Do you
know, the poor people meant nothing, but perhaps they said these words."
To increase my reassurance he said: "Be tranquil. If I had enough enough time, I
wouldn’t have preferred [another] place more than here, and I would have come to
you."
I remembered that he sometimes passed by even for a single minute. It coincided
that many times when he wanted to move from one area to another and our house
would be on his way, he would come to greet me and ask how I was doing -in front
of the door- and then he would leave. [Till then], 17 or 18 days had passed and
he hadn’t come yet.
I hardly remember him coming home disheveled or dust-covered, whether in Kashan
or when he went I went to the front. He used to go to the barber's, then to [the
public] bath, and then home.
He also gave great importance to providing my needs. Our condition was better
than the [state] of many of the members of the revolutionary guards.
There were [some] individuals who could only place carpets [in their homes]
after a lot of effort. As for me, I had utensils such as a manual meat mincing
machine and an iron.
Sometimes when [Abbas] would remain home for a day or half a day, he would go to
buy things. He would bring the supplies [needed for] a number of days [such as]
meat, bread, fruits, and other matters. Buying these purchased goods would reach
the peak before the start of the operations. The other women noticed that and
they used to say: "Whenever we see Hajj [Abbas] coming home with his hands full,
we realize that the time of the operations has approached!"
When I told him that he laughed and said: "So I'm not carrying out my security
responsibility well."
He cared for my welfare to that extent, and he was also careful that no [public]
money would be mixed with our personal affairs.
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