Free Women Without Men by Shahrnush Parsipur

driver when he reached the women.
    The twenty-eight-year-old, Fa’iza, promptly came up with the answer, “We are going to Karadj to live by the fruits of our own labor and not to have any men to order us around.”
    â€œIs that so?” said the driver. “Are you serious?” He suddenly reached for her chador and pulled it off her head.
    â€œWhat the hell,” she yelled with a mixture of fear and surprise. “Help! Help!”
    At once the men attacked the women and a struggle ensued. The woman named Fa’iza continued to resist and scream as she was forced to the ground. The other, named Munis, quit fighting and remained inert.
    After fifteen minutes the men got to their feet and started to dust themselves off slowly, without any fear of being caught in the act. The two women remained on the ground, with Fa’iza cursing the aggressors. “I hope God will take our revenge,” she said defiantly as the men tidied themselves up.
    â€œThe one I ended up with was not that hot,” said the assistant with some dissatisfaction.
    â€œThat was your lot, boy,” said the driver grinning. “Mine on the other hand put up a delicious fight, pretending she was chaste.” They both chuckled at the remark.
    Mockingly, the men thanked the women and moved toward their truck. The driver started the engine.

    â€œDid something happen back there?” asked the passenger.
    â€œNone of your business,” barked the driver.
    â€œSorry,” the passenger responded apologetically, “I thought there was an accident or something.”
    â€œWhat is it to you, anyway? Are you a policeman?”
    â€œNo, I’m a gardener. They call me ‘Kind Gardener.’”
    â€œHey, Kind Gardener,” the driver said, amused, “we were irrigating the fields.”
    The driver and his assistant were hugely amused by the comment. They broke out into laughter. The driver was laughing so hard that he lost control of the steering wheel and the truck began to swerve wildly on the highway. To avoid a head-on collision with a Mercedes sedan, he jerked the wheel, which sent the truck off the road toward a clump of trees. The truck smashed the first tree but came to shattering halt against the next. The door on the passenger side blew open sucking out the assistant and threw him on the ground just as the truck capsized over him. The impact sent the driver flying through the windshield toward power lines directly overhead. He was followed by the passenger, who crashed into a large pile of mud on the side of the road.
    The driver, who had instinctively grabbed at a high-voltage cable to stop his flight, was electrocuted. His body convulsed not unlike some macabre dance movements. The assistant had been crushed to death instantly, before he had a chance to open his eyes.

    The passenger rose to his feet slowly, trying to extricate himself from the mud pile. He surveyed the scene of death and destruction around him.
    â€œOh, villainous creatures!” he exclaimed.
    Soon he realized he could not wipe the muddy substance off of him without a shower and change of clothes. He found his right shoe, put it on, and started ambling in the direction of Karadj.

Farrokhlaqa’s Garden
    Part One
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    FARROKHLAQA WAS SPRAWLED in the back seat of the car. Ostovary, Mosayeb, and the driver were in the front. That is how they arrived at the gate of the garden at four in the afternoon. Ostovary was worried about his client’s reaction to the tree. Except for that, he had discussed all aspects of the property with her. As soon as the car came to a halt, he jumped out ahead of the driver and opened the car door for her. It was the driver’s last day of work. In fact he didn’t even have to work that day. The lady could have driven herself. But he had offered to drive ostensibly as a favor, but more to satisfy his own curiosity about the property she was about to acquire.

    â€œYou