Then They Came for Me_ A Family's Story of Love, Captivity, and Survival - Maziar Bahari [80]
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But that knock on the door didn’t come.
For several days, they ignored me. Why don’t they interrogate me anymore? I thought. Have they forgotten about me? The only human contact I had was with the prison guards who silently slid my food through the slot in my cell door or led me out for my daily walk and to use the toilet. Gradually I even came to miss Rosewater and his idiotic questions. Every day, I waited for him to call for me. I sat on the floor, listening for footsteps, and passed the time by counting things in my head. How many schools had I attended? How many houses had I lived in? How many women had I dated? How many cities had I visited?
The knock finally came on the fourth night, well past midnight.
“Specialist time,” I heard a guard say from outside my cell, in a sleepy voice. I’d barely slept since the confession, and I jumped up to take the blindfold he extended through the bottom slot. It was Brown Sandals. I was so happy that they’d finally come for me—that I was going to see Rosewater—that I momentarily forgot the rules. “Don’t the interrogators have regular working hours?” I joked to Brown Sandals, before immediately regretting it. I didn’t know what his reaction would be, and I didn’t want any problems before getting released.
“Tell me about it,” he replied. “But don’t forget that they wake me up, too. I was having a nice dream.”
This was a welcome surprise: a friendly exchange with a guard. It could only be a good sign, I thought. They were preparing to see me off, and no longer considered me a threat. I went with it, knowing that the fastest way for two men to bond is through sexual innuendos; it doesn’t matter whether you’re in an office in New York or a notorious Iranian prison.
“Don’t worry,” I said, “you’ll get back to whoever you were dreaming about as soon as you go back to sleep.”
Brown Sandals laughed. “Don’t be naughty now. I only have clean, wholesome dreams.” He sounded like many jolly, middle-aged government employees I’d talked to in the past. He could have been an accountant, or someone in charge of a small local park. I wished I had talked to him earlier. It was only later that I learned that even though the Revolutionary Guards have their own detention center inside Evin, the prison guards work for the judiciary and are not as indoctrinated as the members of the Revolutionary Guards.
He led me through the courtyard toward the building where I had been interrogated. I figured that they wanted to give me one last talking to, and warn me against any further reporting in Iran, before they let me go. I recognized Rosewater from his slippers and, of course, his smell.
“Hello, Mr. Bahari,” Rosewater said. “Long time no see. Are you ready for freedom?”
“Yes, sir,” I answered quietly. I didn’t want to sound too enthusiastic. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
Rosewater led me by the arm to an interrogation room I had never been to before. I couldn’t ever really make sense of the layout of the prison and would soon understand that keeping me disoriented was part of their strategy to control me. I was never supposed to know where they were taking me, or what they would ask. One of the first things I would do when I got home, I thought, would be to check out the aerial view of Evin on Google Earth. Rosewater sat me in a chair.
“How are you, Mr. Bahari?” he asked from his side of the room.
I would be fine if I could just get out of here. “I’m well. Thank you, sir.”
“Do you think we’re stupid?” I bit my tongue. Of course I could not answer that honestly. I sensed him quickly crossing the room. His face was near mine. “Are you deaf? I’m asking you a question!” he screamed into my ear.
This wasn’t the scenario I had been picturing. I felt a trickle of