Previous Intimacies

" Have you ever been intimate with a girl ? "' Shahrezad was leaning against the Chief Inspector on her mother's couch. " yes, " Bahram told her, " while I was with Interpol in Vienna. " " Iranian? " " yes, she was.. " " how did she get to be in Vienna, of all places ? " Shahrezad wondered. " Takhmeena was there on an opera bursary. " " more tea, Bahram ? Where did you get to 'know ' her, I am curious .. " " I met her in Vienna, as I said, waiting for the tram to Grinzing.. both she and I had minders to avoid but that wasn't too difficult.. " " how; tell me ! " " look, we both knew German better than they, and I had access to police locationing equipment and frequencies that her ' seeing- eyes', at least, could not get into.. " " but did you get into bed with her in Austria? yes or no ? " " answer is no , " Bahram smiled and emptied another cup of tea. " you are a tea belly , " his lover commented, pushing against his 'organ'. " what time of the year was it, anyway ? " " we had the summer of our lives " , Bhaman reminisced, " long days, beautiful warm weather, almost no rain " . " Anyway, I was sent to Geneva one day, the idea being that I was to join our diplomatic police .." " to be posted with the UN in Geneva ? ' she enquired. " No, New York, in fact, but they wanted me to familiarise myself with various UN agencies in Geneva, so I went .." " and Takhmeena; how did she end up in Switzerland ? " " she first smuggled herself into Liechtenstein after a music recital in Bregenz, which is quite close.. " " Do they have no border controls in Europe ? " the girl wondered. " Most of the time, no ", Bahram conceded. " Anyway, " he continued ", she dressed as ' normally ' as she could .." " meaning what ? " Shahrezad demanded. " Like any young woman over there ", Bharam suggested. " Lucky her! ". " yes; she got a lift with some girls heading for Lucerne who dropped her at a train station on the way; then she boarded the next train to Geneva.. "; " and you happened to be on it, didn't you " , Shahrezad ventured. " yes, in a sleeper compartment: I had paid for an extra berth as soon as the train got into Switzerland; in she came and off we went.. " " highly romantic ", agreed Shahrezad. " If she had not made that train ?..." " I would have gotten off at the next station, at the last minute, so as to confuse my minder; she would have likewise changed trains all the way to Geneva till we would have been on the same train, at some stage.. " " But your minder ? " " My minder was sick during most of the trip ", Bahram informed her. " Carefully arranged, no doubt ?" " of course ". " have another cup, o international lover.. how did you do it in Geneva ? " Shahrezad wainted to know. " Takhmeena's lecturer's sister- Armenian, by the way- is married and lives near Geneva, in one of their French suburbs .. I would use my diplomatic ID and she would smuggle herself in and out of Geneva.. one night, we did it right by the lake and then woke up to the sun shining across the Alps, lighting up the snow.. " " why are you not with her any more, Bahram ? " Sharezad queried. " we could have stayed together, had I been sent to New York, as planned.. " " wasn't that the purpose of being with Interpol and sent to Geneva, in the first place ? " "true, " Bahram confirmed, " but someone's nephew got dispatched to the United Nations, instead.." " without any preparation ? " " More or less " , Bahram admitted. " Must have been quite someone's nephew " Shahrezad felt. " Anyway, what happened to her ? " " Takhmeena got a scholarship to train at the Juillard.." " that is the musical academy in New York, is it not ? " " You are right, love.. " " of your life, I hope !" asserted his future wife. " it goes without saying ", Bahram submitted. " At first, we were not too worried...." " since you were meant to go there as well. to the UN ? " " yes, it wasn't till I found out, back in Vienna, that Ayatollah Taheri's nephew from the Qum Semonary was to go, instead,... " " you set her free ? " " what else was there to do, " asked the policeman. " I wanted her to, maybe, meet and marry someone in America .." " Is that what happened, in the end? " " yes, " confirmed Bahram, regretfully. " She is getting engaged to someone from Pittsburgh Opera, " he added; " but tell me about yout love life, such as it was, till you met me, will you ? " her future husband wondered. " Samir and I were at language school together, at Isfahan University, " she informed him. " Did you start your studies there? I didn't know ", said Bahram. " Yes, I have relatives who work there; the uni had a vacancy and accepted my grades; I didn't change over till my final year.. " " your final exam is coming up .. " " don't remind me. Anyway, Samir and I joined the University Astronomy Club.. " " where boy meets girl ", confirmed Bahram; " so they can both admire the stars, under clear desert skies, totally silent.. " she paused a moment. " the observatory was quite far away from Isfahan.. " " to avoid light pollution ?" " yes, also just general pollution ; this is Iran. We first 'did' it right outside their storage area, under the sky... '" " lots of stars but freezing cold, no doubt..." " were you there also with some girl? Astronomical societies in Iran exist for boys to meet girls...." she teased him. " No, but the observatory is fairly high up, from general knowledge.." " how do you know? " " I have seen photos.... what happened to Samir and you, o love of my future life? " " Somaye' parents ' met ' him.. " " who is Somaye ? " " .. the daughter of a senior lecturer in chemistry at Isfahan University who was about to migrate to Canada.. " " hence her studying English " " ... a true detective ", she praised him. " Did this Somaye female have her eyes on him, I wonder.. " " Actually, it was her parents " she told Bahram; " who did not want her to meet and marry someone over there.. " " especially a non-Iranian, how awful ? " Bahram added. " So, they made Samir accompany them to Al Ayn where a family friend of theirs had a summer house.. " " AL Ayn in the UAE, that is ?" Bahman stated." It does get cool in the hills along the Omani border, even in summer, and the Emirati leave you to your devices a lot more than we do in Iran... " " This is what happened, " she sighed." Anyway, the way he told me later... " " was there a ' later' between you ", her future husband wondered aloud. " Can't you wait, Inspector ? " Shahrezad demanded. " Somaye's parents told him,after a late evening meal, on their verandah, in the hill country out of Al Ayn,-- you were right-- that their daughter had agreed to be ' deflowered '" " by none other than Samir ?", " that very evening, right there and then.. " " Did your boyfriend rise to the occasion ? " " As always, yes, more's the pity.." " Then, what happened ? I am curious " " well, " continued Shahrezad, " he got back to me and we decided to escape to the coast " " Khesh Island, where everything goes ?" Bahram suspected. " No, nothing as obvious, " she admitted, referring to the rather less constrained atmosphere on that small island in the Persian Gulf. " We went to Hormuz and met a local Arab family on the ferry who thought " -- " or allowed themselves to think "-- " that we were on our honeymoon; so they let us have their son's space, a small hut on their property.. " " was he away ?" " yes, on compulsory military service.." " and what happened next, o endless love of mine? " " that sounds nice, " Shahrezad marvelled. " we engaged in some serious ' deflowering ' for the next few days and nights, totally undisturbed, interrupted by the odd walk on the beach and some food.." " Did you both know it would not last? " " O yes; a few months later, back at uni, he was 'summonsed' to Ankara.." " where the Canadian Immigration service is, these days ? " Bahram suggested. " yes, how did you know ? Her parents ' confronted' him with a job offer in Vancouver, as a copywriter for a company there, run by Iranian friends of theirs, on condition that he married Somaye there and then, at the Iranian embassy, and have has visa application dealt with, along with theirs.." " did you get together with him after that? " " yes, one more time ", Shahrezad informed him. " A girlfriend of mine and I went to East Turkey: Erzurum.." " for some skiing ?" " that was the excuse, " Shahrezad agreed. " Samir managed to get there by himself ", she continued, " and I made him ' deflower ' both of us on the skiing fields.. " " in broad daylight; amazing ! " Bahram laughed. " " yes, we went cross-country skiing; complete with tent and blankets.. clear blue skies; strong arrack in the thermos.." " tea as well?" " minimal amount " " that was the last time ever ?" " more or less; he got back to Isfahan; we did go to the observatory.. " " no more ' knowing ' each other ? " Shahrezad nodded sadly. " We had a fight, right in front of many people.. " she shuddered at the memory. " Is that why you came back to finish your studies here, instead ? " Bahram averred. " It helped, o most understanding one.. " she assured him. " I asked you before to ' cover me ', if you remember ", he wondered earnestly. " No, there won't be another one ever ," she confirmed. " But I promise you that I shall take you through the paces, in place of all the other men I am giving up on.." " Looking forward to it, in whichever form... " Bahram had to have the last word.