Second in a series
Re “A Woman of Mighty Courage from an Earlier Era”
[img]2948|right|Dr. Rosemary Cohen||no_popup[/img]Mademoiselle Marika wanted to accompany us on our picnic in Tehran, where all of us were living, even though she was handicapped. We just did not know to what extent.
Retreating was not in her makeup. To us she was considered a stranger because she was European.
On the day of the picnic when our friend arrived with a big brown van, he opened the door and went inside.
Moments later he came out pushing a wheelchair with a completely crippled woman sitting inside it.
The only part of her body that was alive was her head. Even that was not moving in any directions. Her head was just sitting over her paralyzed body.
As soon as I saw her, I recognized Mlle. Marika. I knew her only by her name.
I had seen her over the years every Tuesday night at the Iranian Philharmonic Society’s concerts. She never missed a concert. A certain would push her chair to the front row. During intermission, numerous people would stop by and talk to her. When I told my mother about her the first time, she knew exactly who I was talking about.
Mother told me a story.
Years ago, Mademoiselle Marika, was a young, beautiful, bright girl engaged to a Greek young man. They loved each other very much. Marriage was planned for the next summer. However, a young Iranian officer was madly in love with her. When he had approached her one day, offering his love and proposed marriage, she had kindly refused. She was engaged, she reminded him. Soon she would be wed. . Months prior to the wedding date, she and her fiancé went to a movie theatre. By coincidence, the officer was there, too.
By accident? Or had he followed her? Who knows? As the officer saw her with the young man, he was stricken by deep jealousy. He pulled out a gun. Shouting loudly, “If I cannot have you, no one else will,” he pulled the trigger twice, first in Mlle. Marika’s direction, the second at himself. Unfortunately Marika’s bullet struck her vertebra. She became fully paralyzed.
While the officer was badly injured, his life was spared. In time his injuries healed. The army discharged him and from the military service. He served jail time, which was not the end of his punishment.
(To be continued)
Dr. Rosemary Hartounian Cohen, who lives in the Fairfax District, received her Ph.D in sociology from the Sorbonne in Paris. She lived in two other countries before moving, with her husband and four children, to Los Angeles in 1984. She has published four books in America. Since 1985, she has operated Atelier de Paris, an international art business, on Robertson Boulevard. Her email address is Rosemary@atelierdeparis.com.
