Things We Left Unsaid Read Online Free PDF

went to Tehran I planted a red rose bush at the head of Father’s grave, and every time I made the cemetery attendants promise to water the rose bush, but they never did. So
each time I went, I would plant a new rose bush. In the backyard, I looked at the laundry on the clothesline. My son’s socks, the twins’ slips in identical size and style,
Artoush’s shirts, the sheets and the pillowcases. I took them all off the line, folded them one by one and put them in the basket. I gazed at the empty clothesline I had stretched between the
jujube tree and the backyard wall. The branches of the tree rustled and a few ripe jujubes fell to the ground. Why hadn’t I reminded Alice what a tempest she had raised over my marriage to
Artoush?
    How red the jujubes are, I thought.
    Why hadn’t I pointed out to Alice that she had tortured me for months after my marriage, hinting here and there behind my back, and even to my face, that ‘Artoush first wanted to
marry me, then Clarice shoehorned in between us like a dirty spoon.’
    Instead of a red rose bush that no one remembers to water, it would have been better to plant a jujube sapling over Father’s head. The next time Mr. Morteza comes, I told myself, I should
ask him where I can buy one. Maybe jujube trees grow wild? Maybe they don’t thrive in Tehran’s climate. I had never seen a jujube tree before coming to Abadan.
    Alice and Mother argued right up until it was time to leave. After I put the kids to bed that night, did the dishes, and cleaned the kitchen, I sat in the green leather chair. I ate those red
jujubes one by one and remembered how Father would say, ‘Don’t argue with anyone and don’t criticize them. Whatever anyone tells you, just say “you are right” and let
it go. When people ask your opinion about something, they are not really interested in what you believe. They want you to agree with them. Arguing with people is pointless.’
    I ate a jujube and said to myself, ‘You were right about that, Father. Arguing with people is pointless.’ I promised Father that no matter what Alice said, I would just tell her
‘you are right,’ and that I would approve of whatever she did. I ate the last jujube and thought, ‘I wish Father were here; I bet he would have liked the taste of
jujubes.’
    Now, sitting on the front step, I noticed the bougainvillea flower lying crumpled in my hand. A fat frog hopped out of the flowerbed, came to rest directly in front of me, and
stared into my eyes. I got up, went inside, closed the door behind me and said out loud: ‘Yes, I know I have to be quiet, and just listen. And you, Mother, you know that for at least a week
you must not nag Alice for over-eating or being overweight.’
    When Mother nagged my sister about over-eating, if Alice was feeling good, she would tell a joke, make light of it, and somehow change the subject. If, as of late, she was not in a good mood,
she would yell and scream: ‘Why can’t you let me be! What joy do I have in life? Yeah, I’m fat. But exactly who’m I supposed to keep myself thin for, anyway? My boyfriend?
My husband? My kids?’ And Mother would have to give in and bring out the Cadbury chocolate bars Alice was always buying and Mother was always hiding, and lay them in front of Alice. Or, when
the situation got really grave, as it had been for the last few days, Mother would say, ‘Call me an ass,’ and then traipse off to buy chocolate for my sister herself. I ran my hand over
the telephone table. Mother was right. If you left the door open for two minutes, the house filled up with dust.
    I tied on my apron and before turning on the faucet over the dishes in the sink, I looked inside my coffee cup. There was no sign of anything whatsoever that resembled the shape of a cypress
tree.

 
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    I drew the curtains in the twins’ room and straightened their bedspreads. Mother had stitched the quilts for them out of swatches of cloth she had been collecting over
the