After my encounter with Osama Ben Laden, in the veggie market of Kabul, I returned home to spell out the details to my partner. Using a magnifier, we examined the images in the translucent precious stone given to me by Osama. They were very impressive, particularly the image of a hooded crow.
Since we had no more business to do in Kabul, we decide to leave the place for the legendary ancient city of Herat, once called the bread-basket of Central Asia by Herodotus. In Achaemenid times (ca. 550-330 BC), the district was known as Haraiva. In late 330 BC Alexander the Great, captured Herat and constructed a citadel there. In 1380 Tamerlane, the Mongol warrior, conquered Herat and stacked the heads of the slaughtered residents to form a tower. His son, Shahrukh married Goharshad, meaning "joyful/shining jewel". This woman built a couple of big mosques in some large cities which are still around.
However, there goes a legend that Goharshad was a cowboy's daughter, more or less similar to Cinderella, with whom Shahrukh, the Mongol emperor, fell in love. The Mongol emperor built a huge platform for the bride's father in Herat as a bride price, still around and called "Takht-e Safar", platform of Safar, the name of the bride's father, so that he could sit and watch all his cows grazing in the fields.
In Herat, it was a starry night, and we slept on that renowned platform. It was after dawn when the cawing of some hooded crows awakened us. In bed, we sat up and watched the sky and listened to noises. Hooded crows were coming and coming in hundreds and hundreds. The noise was so intense and loud that almost all inhabitants turned on their lights. Now, people rushed up to their roofs which made crows more frantic. The cities security forces as well as the fire department engines were rushed to the scene! No one knew what to do.
Finally, we saw, the proprietor of a house which was the focal point of the disturbance gently carried a baby hooded crow, which had fallen during its crude first flight in the man's yard, to the roof where the crows could pick it up and lead to safety. When Crows' demand were met, they quietly left the scene. We were baffled, wondering if there was any connection between the image in the precious stone and the hooded crows' child protection united front!
Once again, the whole city fell back to sleep. I, unintentionally, had taken a knee-chest position on bed. Next, I felt or imagined a hand gently pulling down my panties. I made no move. What I felt was a great passion on the part of the invisible assailant, which made me totally submissive.
