I watched children’s videos on YouTube to learn how to speak English to a child his age.
Ezi wasn’t interested in much besides building things with Lego. He could entertain himself for long stretches.
Whenever he became tired, he would come silently into my arms and stay there until he fell asleep.
The trust he had developed in me told me that everything was going well.
The strange thing was that sometimes, when I was at home, I missed him.
I had asked his father for permission to borrow some of the child-psychology books he owned. It was an extraordinary experience.
It was the first time I had read a book about raising children, and it was the first time I realized how hungry I was to understand myself.
The doctor’s psychology books had opened a window onto an entirely new world for me.
This was the inward journey I had needed.
I almost always had one of those books in my hands. The more I read, the more I came to understand myself.
And I wasn’t the only subject of this discovery.
There was Sina too—the man who had been almost invisible for nearly two months since our last meeting.
If I hadn’t seen him leave the parking lot every morning, and if the light in his apartment hadn’t been on every night, I might have wondered whether he still lived there at all.
One night, while I was reading one of those books at home, he finally appeared.
He rang my doorbell.
I opened the door and greeted him warmly.
He, however, still barely smiled.
“Could I ask you to do me another favor?” he said.
Once again, he wanted something from me.
“Of course?”
He held out his car documents and keys.
“I’m going away for a few days,” he said. “The battery might die. Would you mind driving this car around for a little while every day until I get back?”
I hesitated.
“Don’t worry. It won’t be any trouble,” he said. “And if I know you, you probably have no problem driving.”
I said uncertainly, “It’s not a problem. It’s just…”
“Then I’d appreciate it. In fact, wherever you have to go every day, use this car. Two birds with one stone.”