The train continued to sit idly as it had been doing for the past hour. I stayed put as I had been instructed to do by my travel companion. He told me he had others further ahead that were waiting for us and thus he had to go and inform them about our delay. I wasn’t sure how he would reach them although it later occurred to me that whatever means he was using I should have simply asked for him to take me with him. Instead I remained seated in the train, waiting for it to resume its journey while I kept an eye out for my station at which point I would join the rest of the group. Until then I was in the care of a blind man who attempted a skeptical conversation with me.

I could tell the answers I was giving him were not satisfying him and before long he gave up on making conversation. I tried to prolong it as best as I could by asking various questions of him and trying to stretch out my own stories for as long as possible. As long as I could keep him listening, and as a result in our compartment, I felt like I could get over this hurdle. However, his clear reluctance to participate in the conversation and my eventual lack of material resulted into an awkward silence that he ultimately broke by saying, “Can you wait here for a moment? I’ll be right back.” At that point as I watched him feel his way out of our compartment I knew the game was probably over.

A few minutes later he returned accompanied by two individuals, one of them in a police uniform. The other man looked and me and asked, “Hey boy, where are you headed?”

The blind man responded, “He’s going to Urumieh.”

“Let him answer his own questions,” the man answered and instructed the blind man to leave the compartment. The two men took a seat.

“I’m an undercover cop and I need to ask you some questions,” he continued. “You’re going to Urumieh?”

“Yes.”

“What business do you have there?”

“Nothing, just visiting a family member.”

“What’s his address?”

“I don’t have his address.”

“How about his phone number?”

“I don’t have that either.”

“So how exactly are you gonna reach your family member when we get to Urumieh?”

“Well he’s supposed to pick me up. He has the train schedule.”

“We’ve been standing still for some time and we don’t even know when we’ll get moving again. What good is that train schedule gonna be?”

“I don’t know. I suppose they will have to check with the train station to see when the train finally arrives.”

“Do you have some ID on you?”

I shook my head.

“Ok well we once we reach the station will have to take you in for questioning.”

“For what? I haven’t done anything. Travelling within the country isn’t a crime.”

“It’s not a crime but you have no identification on you. Your presence here is suspicious and we need to have your situation clarified.”

I reached into my back pocket. “If my lack of an ID is the problem, well here you go. Problem solved.” I handed them my school ID.

They were unimpressed and visibly annoyed with my stunt.

They looked my ID over. “This ID says you are a high school student in Tehran,” the undercover cop said. “Tomorrow is a week day and you are hundreds of kilometers away from Tehran on a train in a completely different city with no explanation for why you are here. As I said you are a suspicious character.”

Looking at my ID, the other cop nudged him. “The birthplace is interesting.”

“What does my birthplace have to do with anything? I snapped back.

“We suspect you are a runaway and so until you clarify what you are doing here you will remain in our custody.”

“I’m not a runaway. My parents know exactly where I am. You can check with them.”

“Once we get to the station we’ll call them to see if they can confirm your story. If they can then you are free to go once your father comes to pick you up.”

“My father won’t be able to pick me up anyway. He’s sick,” I lied.

Almost in complete unison the two cops responded, “May God heal him.”