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Israel attacks my once homeland
bombs Tehran where I lived as a child safe behind brick walls that surrounded our garden. Gombo, our large dog chained to a tree trunk how could he protect us? Then it was the Russian soldiers and our fear of Hitler. Now it’s Israel and Trump backing Benjamin Netanyahu. After papa’s death using the Russian quota mama booked us on a victory ship, the S.S. MINUTE VICTORY a warship that still exists in the United States Navy. At the end of WWII transferred into a merchant ship carried goods from Egypt from the Mediterranean and three women, no two women, I was just a girl. I was just eleven and all the rest were men including sailors in white below deck and my brothers, Leo and Peter. We sat with Mama, now a widow. We sat at the Captain’s table, sat trying to get down tomato soup as the waves slushed and tipped the ship. Unlike Makmoud’s tasty dolma spread with home-made yogurt, the hot tomato soup hard to swallow, hard to keep down. Cold cereal, and peanut butter all new as the ship rocked and my stomach churned. A mate tipped his bowl of hot soup in time to the rocking of waves without spilling a single drop. My brothers and I were amazed. My stomach woozy I unable to keep down strange taste, unable to swallow new tastes but for life savors thrown up to me from the deck below. “Life saviors for the little girl!” And I smiled as I sucked in the sweet flavor. And now how safe is Iran? How safe are we? |