Don't Litter Please!

As Parmis's message, a very large ice-cream, was drawn on the island desert, Uncle Larry was proud of his assistant, and Parmis was walking on air, she was jumping about and singing happily. So were her friends. The children were very thrilled for Char-Shanbe-Suri, so they began collecting wood, many people joined them. Soon there were masses of wood, old branches, cardboard and even papers. The children with their parents organized the firewood beautifully around the tire tracks, then sat waiting for sunset.

Tina and Armis looked very tired. Since three days ago, they had joined the Message team to shoot video. Now it was time to relax. Tina looked up, then  touched a button on the remote control, a few minutes later, her quad-copter landed on the take-off point. Armis laughed, "Wow! It got back home, I love to record video with quad-copter."
 Tina replied, "Buy one, it's not very expensive." Armis stared at Tina's quad-copter and replied, "Maybe I'll take one later." Tina picked up her iPhone, checked the YouTube Kids, and shrieked with laughter, "Oh, two thousand have seen our videos." Armis smiled, "I knew."

Martin wrapped himself in a white sheet, took a Jack-O-lantern. He joined Kiarash who was standing near a pile of firewood. The firewood reminded him of two years ago when his family celebrated Char-Shanbe-Suri Eve in Iran with Parmis's great family, now where was Parmis? he looked around and saw Parmis staring at the sky.


The Sun set, the orange glow of fire lit wherever, and the people came to watching Char-Shanbe-Suri Fireworks.
 Mahta was standing in front of the biggest bonfire, looked very worried, she was waiting for her sister. Finally Mino came, wheeling a green cart. All looks turned to her.
 Aynaz asked, "Where do you have in your cart?"
"Flip-flops" her answer made a good laugh.
 Ayda said, "You must be mad, Mino! why don't you sell anything else, like sweet, sandwich or drink?"
 Mino only smiled.
 Kiarash whispered to Martin's ear, "She wants to drop all flip-flops into the fire, I guess."
Martin asked, "Why?"
Kiarash replied with a laud laugh, "Because she loves the smell of burning rubber. Me too."
 Martin's eyes were large with horror, suddenly he began running away. Of course, Mino didn't intend to burn the flip-flops, she wanted to sell them.

Mino put more and more wood on the roaring fire, when she felt it was great enough, She shouted, "Attention, Please! It's Char-Shanbe-Suri, when Iranians lit very very large bonfire, then jump over them. I wish I were in Iran!" she sighed deeply, "Unluckily, my family had to stay in the island just for Parmis's message ... I don't like to break with tradition, I want to jump over the bonfire, and if you are brave enough, you can join me to leap over this roaring bonfire... Everyone can jump over that  he'll win a helicopter tour of the island." The people began whispering.

 Mino turned her attention to Uncle Larry, "Now, I invite our honor guest to be the first man who leaps over the fire."
Uncle Larry looked shocked, he asked, "Me?"
Mino nodded, "Yeah, I know you dare jump the bonfire."
Uncle Larry glanced around him, all eyes stared at him, so he had to jump. he wish he were on the moon, because the moon's gravity is one-sixth of the Earth's gravity. However, he was on the Earth.

 Mahta was feeding the fire with dry wood constantly. Uncle Larry shut his eyes, and jumped in the air as high as he could. All at once, he felt the heat of the fire as he was passing over the large bonfire. The fire licked his shoes, Uncle Larry cried aloud, when he was on the ground again, he quickly took his burnt shoes and socks off, his feet seemed fully healthy, Uncle Larry took a deep breath, then let it out with a small sigh.
Mino asked, "Do you like to try a pair of flip-flop on? what's your shoe size?"
Then she added, handing him flip-flops, "They'll be fifty dollars, thanks."
Uncle Larry's eyes widened, "Fifty dollars? you must be joking?"
Mino shook her head, "Not at all."

Mahta raised her voice, "Unluckily, Uncle Larry's failed. Who's next please? ... Who dare to jump over this fire?"
Her saying hadn't yet finished that thousands of people who wanted to show their bravery, and tried their chance to win the prize formed a line in front of the largest bonfire. Although all attempted, all the efforts ended in failure. Mino and Mahta looked the only winner of the competition, they sold all their flip-flops.
 Mahta was very excited, she told her sister, "You have brains."
Mino laughed, "Sometimes I have, I'm very smart, and you are the best sister in the world."
Mahta glowed with embarrassment, this was the first time in her life that Mino had complimented her. Mino smiled at her, "Let's sit near that small bonfire and crack a nut."
 Mahta, "Why not?"

Three hours passed, but Uncle Sergey didn't contact with the Earth. Poor Parmis was sitting alone, staring at the moon. Martin came up to her, banging on a big pot. He tired to bring a little smile on Parmis's face, but Parmis didn't laugh. She swallowed hard and said,"Uncle Sergey's not seen my message yet."
Martin smiled, "But all the people saw it. Don't worry, maybe he is too far to see the message."
Parmis, "No, he's on the moon, Uncle Larry said."
Martin, "Well, maybe they are asleep now, if you'd like we can light bonfires tomorrow."
Parmis knitted her brows, "Tomorrow night? Martin, Don't pull my leg! tonight was Char-Shanbe-Suri."
Martin got red, "Sorry, I didn't mean that you."

Char-Shanbe-Suri was over, the fire began to die down, the crowd disassembled, and Uncle Sergey didn't see the message. Uncle Larry was constantly sighing deeply, he did wasted a lot of money because of Parmis's silly idea. And Parmis, that poor girl was still waiting for Uncle Sergey's reaction.
Armis said, "Let's go home, Parmis, it's getting late."
Parmis shook her head, "No, I want to stay up."
Armis, "Let's go, Parmis. I guess Uncle Sergey can't see your message now."
Parmis burst into tear, "No, he'll see it finally."
Parmis wept bitterly, her family felt sorry for the little girl, but they didn't know what to do. Uncle Larry approached her, and tried to calm her down, "Parmis, Calm down! maybe it's too cloudy to be seen your message from the moon, sometimes it happened."
Parmis nodded her head, "Yes, I wasn't lucky tonight."


And where was Uncle Sergey, why couldn't he see the Ice-cream?
That evening, Uncle Sergey and Gloria took some  olivier salad, then left their shuttle in a lunar landing craft for a picnic on the moon. At first the astronauts enjoyed having their delicious dinner, then went for a walk on the moon, Uncle Sergey sighed, "I always wish Larry and I played beach volleyball on the moon. I wish he were here."

Gloria laughed, "Don't worry, when bases will be built on the moon, you will play volleyball. But now it's time to work."
Sergey let out a loud sigh, wondering why he had married her.

Gloria put up a sign said, "Don't Litter!" and asked Sergey, "Are you ready?"
Sergey nodded, staring at the wreckage of Ranger 4.'
Gloria said, "So let's start. Did you know that I'm a member of the Green Party?! Rocky and I love environment, every Sunday we go for the mountain clean-up, we have three simple rules: Don't litter, take all of your litter home with you, pick up other people's litter."
Sergey pointed at Ranger 4 said, "Great, but I think that we can't always pick up other people's litter."
A wrinkle formed between her eyebrows, "Why? you think the moon is the Earth's salvage yard?"
Sergey, "I realize your worry, but we are here for our honeymoon. We must enjoy watching starts, while we are collecting the moon's litter. why we must do these dirty work themselves? Plus, Maybe when a moon base will be built here, the people who living on the moon can use of these wreckage."
Gloria interrupted him, "I think you'd better deal with your work, two people can dismantle a car in a weekend," she shook her head sadly, "We have been here for four months, and you haven't totally dismantled a wreckage yet."

worry lines emerged on Uncle Sergey's forehead, he could never defeat Gloria in a discussion, so he did what she wanted. Uncle Sergey took his hammer and jumped in the air, higher and higher. Gloria shouted, "Take a smile!" and captured a few photos of him, then both of them started dismantling the wreckage.


* Char-Shanbe-Suri: The Last Wednesday Of The Year In Iranian Calendar
Salad Olivieh

All The Best
M.T