Tarja’s Moment

“Do you have the money?” A stranger in the dark asked. Tarja handed the money to the stranger whose face she could barely make out in the cloak of the night. She took her purchase, then ran off as quickly as possible, guarding her item safely.

It had been her mother’s idea of course. She had made up the plan and set up the meeting. Her mother was always coming up with ideas, it was one of her many qualities. Tarja only had to do as she was told; soon enough she’d be out of this small town and on her way to America.

She tripped on her own foot and fell through the door when she finally reached home only to find her father waiting patiently for her safe return.

“Did you get it?” He inquired gruffly while looking down at his daughter who was still on the floor.

Tarja got up and dusted herself off, “I got it.” She assured him while gasping for breath. Her adrenaline was wearing off.

“Where’s mum?”

Her father gestured over to the other room silently. It wasn’t that he was stern or unhappy with her, he just knew now that Tarja had made it this far into the plan and she would be leaving him soon, so although he was happy for her, the idea of his daughter being so far away broke his heart.

“Everything go to plan?” Tarja’s mother asked without looking away from the TV. Tarja expected it was because if her mother looked at her, her cool emotionless mask might fall off and reveal her mother’s true feelings about what was about to happen.

“Yes,” was all Tarja could respond with. From here on out the plan would become more difficult. It would demand a lot of acting and lying on her part.

“You’d best rest for tonight then.” Her mother sighed. She, like Tarja’s father, was sad to know her daughter would soon be in another country, even though America could provide more opportunities for her than Iran. Despite the fact that their family and many other families believed in equality among men and women, and that Tarja should be able to create a career for herself and enjoy life the way she wanted to, there were too many who believed otherwise.

“What if I can’t find anyone?” Tarja was starting to get cold feet.

“Don’t be ridiculous! You’re beautiful, every man will want to be by your side at night,” her mother replied.

“And what if they don’t believe me?” Tarja asked.

“Make them. Remember Tarja they must believe it is life or death for you. They’re American, it shouldn’t be hard. They’re very ignorant people you know, believe every stereotype in the book.”

Later that night in a club downtown, Tarja found her perfect victim. He was American, single, in his late 60’s, had very low self esteem due to his weight and balding. He was very drunk, and never left her side for the entire night. He said his name was Dan and he would be in Iran for another three months on a business trip. Dan was the perfect victim.

The two spent the night together and Dan was pleasantly surprised when the beautiful woman was still in his hotel room when morning came.

Over the next two months the two became very close. Dan enjoyed listening to Tarja’s stories and learning about her family’s traditions. He felt special when Tarja told him about how she was with him against her parent’s wishes.

Tarja was so happy to find out her mother was right, it took minimal effort to manipulate Dan into believing everything she told him. Yet, she felt bad for him. Dan wasn’t a horrible person, just gullible and desperate for love and approval.

When his final month arrived Dan felt sad that he had to leave Tarja behind, but he knew better things were ahead of him. After all, if a woman like Tarja could fall for him any woman could. Right? Thanks to Tarja he had a new found confidence, he wanted to do more than the bare minimum with his life and was even considering reconnecting with his adult children when he returned. Who knows, maybe he could make amends?

On his final week he opened his hotel door to find his fling, Tarja, weeping. He figured it was because he was leaving and that possibly, to her, this had been more than just a few months of fooling around. After all, it had become more to him as well. Tarja knew otherwise.

The young woman sat down on the bed. When her victim, asked what was wrong she pulled out her secret purchase from months ago. Her hands trembled with excitement as the moment she had created finally occurred. Fake tears rolled down her cheek as she laid a positive pregnancy test on her lap and choked through a sob, “I can’t go home. They’ll kill me.”