Gratitude Day 113 - Friday The 13th

Dear Friends,

Today is Friday the 13^th and Gratitude Day 113!

I want to tell you an equally uncanny story!

Either make yourself a pot of tea, or pour yourself a tall drink.

This is a long, long tale - another weekend edition!  

I was born in The Hague, Holland to a two year-old brother

who was obsessed with an organ grinder and his monkey!

Every afternoon, in exchange for a few coins, the old man and

his monkey would station themselves under my brother’s window

and play music for him. The only tune that ever came out of that

organ was “o li li, o la la….,” nobody remembers the rest!

One day my brother was told to expect a little brother or sister.

Rumour has it, from then on, he kept pointing at every item my

parents bought for me, and calling it “lili’s!”

Thank God he didn’t go with lala’s!

Finally when a pink bundle was presented to him as his sister, he

clapped his hands and cried out: “It’s Lili!” I wonder if it had

anything to do with the monkey!

Both my parents, not very happy with the old-fashioned name my

paternal grandmother had chosen for me, decided to call me Lili

and leave Elaheh between the pages of my birth certificate.   

Once my brother and I reached the age of “sibling turbulence,”

I tried to establish myself as Elaheh, but it was too late.

Everybody was already used to Lili. Most importantly, “Lili”

was easier to pronounce for people of all nations!

Years passed by very quickly. I was 24, in the middle of a

revolution, and still Lili!

When my father was finally released from prison, I stood bail for him.That meant that if they needed him for questioning and he did not show up, they would take me, instead.

No problem, I thought. I was not going to waste time and send for my father’s cousin! I was already there – a fearless blood relative! I signed the papers. My father came home the same night.

A year later, following an unsuccessful coup orchestrated by the opposition in France, the revolutionary guards invaded our house, looking for my father. Luckily he was mountain climbing. However, the armed guards, barely at shaving age, did not take no for an answer. While they were searching the entire house, my mother and my husband kept ordering me around.

“Lili, open a window.” “Lili tell Fatemeh to bring tea.” "Lili, bring the sweets." Lili, Lili, Lili! Even the boy who had stayed behind to keep an eye on us was feeling sorry for me! Later my mother told me they were trying to distract me so I would not panic and run upstairs to my sons’ bedroom and make matters worse by waking them up.

Finally, a couple of glasses of tea and a few baklavas later, the guards left, urging us to tell my father to turn himself in, as soon as he got back.

We started plotting! We were not about to let my innocent father go back to prison. We were not impressed with the accommodations the first time around!

Suddenly the phone rang! I could hear my mother say: “Elaheh? I don’t know who she is. A relative of my husband’s maybe.” 
The guards were desperately seeking Elaheh!

As soon as my mother put the receiver down, the phone rang again! This time it was the relative who had taken possession of the house were I lived at the time I had signed my father’s release form.

I heard my mother say: “Really? They came looking for an Elaheh? I don’t know. We don’t have an Elaheh.”

When my mother put the phone down she told us the relative, frightened of course, had told the guards the truth; there was never an Elaheh M. living in that house, but a Lili M.

That is when I went into hiding. It was only a matter of minutes before the “boys” would solve the puzzle!

I remain eternally grateful to my brother and his organ grinder - and maybe the monkey!

Have a magical weekend everyone!