“A Fenceless Garden” – A Short Story by Mohammad Zarrin

Summary

This is a short story by Muhammad Zarrin, from the eponymous collection of stories, Bâg-e bi-ḥesâr (Tehran: Enteshârât-e Âgâh,1366š /1987). Never before translated, it is included here in homage to the many modern Persian short stories and short-story collections that Heshmat Moayyad has published over the years in translation with his students. The struggle of Elham, the heroine of “A Fenceless Garden,” to understand and express her internal emotions is somewhat reminiscent of the delicate sensibilities of Parvin E‘teṣâmi's poetry, to which Heshmat Moayyad has devoted much attention.

Today is Thursday and for Elham, this day is different from all the Thursdays she previously experienced. Just like Sundays, Mondays, or the other days of the week, which ends tomorrow. Tomorrow is Friday. If she can get through that, she is not so anxious for the upcoming Saturday. She has experienced Saturday in her new situation.

The daily work at the company has begun again. The employees do not take Thursday's work so seriously, and she shares the same view on this matter as the others. Among all the days of the week she likes Thursday the most. Ever since her school days she has always liked this day. Thursday has Friday following it, and Friday, during those years of study and instruction, was a day of fun and play, and in recent years it is the only day that she spends in its entirety with Fariborz. The fresh scent of Friday can be smelled Thursday morning, reaching its culmination close to noon.

On Thursdays, the daily work of the company stops at one o’clock in the afternoon, but by noon, in fact, everyone is ready to go home. This is an undeclared, unofficial agreement, which everyone observes with no particular justification.

For Elham, the Thursday work hours – unlike Saturday, which is long and heavy – pass easily. By the time she performs a couple of different tasks and has her tea and cookies, noon has arrived. Also, there is no need to eat at the work table at the company. Everyone comes to work unburdened on this day, without their lunch pails or food containers.