A SHIRIN STORY:
On a train heading back to Williams, Arizona after visiting the Grand Canyon, Shirin thought about how it had looked like a picture. She felt a little robbed of the grand experience everyone talked about because it had seemed so fake. While looking into the canyon her mind had told her that what she was seeing was not the biggest canyon in the world, it was just a backdrop.
Shirin remembered standing near the edge, she had lifted a coin from her pocket and had held it up in front of the view. Her brother Frederick had been standing next to her, "Shirin, put it away," he had said, "your blocking my view! Besides, if you drop it you will never find it." He was right, if she had set that coin down and stepped back just a few steps it may have disappeared from sight. She remembered thinking it was a good idea to try, but instead quickly slipped the coin back in her pocket.
Funny that holding up a little coin could make it seem bigger and more real than the Grand Canyon with the potential to block her view. Although Shirin couldn't grasp the grandness of the canyon, she could grasp her coin. She had wanted to feel awed but just couldn't surrender to the image, "I feel robbed."
"You will be robbed!" Robbed? Back on the train, Shirin's thoughts of the Grand Canyon were interrupted. She looked up. Their train car host went on, "You are in for a great show but I warn you, only surrender money you are willing to part with for good because you won't get any of it back."
Shirin was sitting next to her cousin Jordan. In her pocket she still had her coin, but didn't want to part with it for good. Jordan's parents quickly slipped him a dollar. Across the way she could see her dad getting out some money. As he reached across the isle he said, "Here you go Shirin. This is not a real robbery, these men work with the train to put on a show. Long ago bandits would really stop passenger trains and rob the people."
"There they are!" Jordan shouted. As the train traveled down the tracks Shirin could see masked bandits on horses riding along side the train. Soon the train came to a stop and the men got off their horses and stepped on board.
"Listen up, this here is a robbery!" The bandits came in with bandannas wrapped around their noses and tied in the back. "I want folding money, pocket change, jewelry and gold teeth."
Pocket change? Shirin wasn't willing to part with her pocket change.
"Put your paws in your pockets," The bandits continued, "and your hands in your hand bags and get that money out!"
"Here you go, it's all I have" Shirin shouted out as she raised up her father's dollar bill.
The bandits worked their way down the isle taking the money and making all kinds of bandit type comments with just enough humor to remind Shirin that this was a show.
After they left the train car Jordan huddled up with Shirin with the biggest smile on his face. "I got them good," he said, "Look, I didn't give them this dollar!" Shirin burst out in laughter at the thought of pulling a fast one over on those bandits.
"Look!" Shirin yelled across the isle to her brother Frederick and cousin Preston, "Jordan didn't give them his money!" Everyone laughed, even her parents found humor in it. Jordan held it up like he was victorious.
Suddenly, the front doors of the train car swung open. Were the bandits back?
"Alright, you folks stay in your seats and stay calm, I'm the Sheriff and I'm looking for some low down dirty rotten train robbers!" Just the Sheriff. Shirin sighed a relief and again played the part of a robbed passenger.
"They were here and robbed us of our money!" She shouted.
"Oh they did?" The Sheriff replied. "Well, it's time to catch these robbers and bring them to justice for robbing you of all your valuables."
Shirin could barely handle it knowing that they had missed a valuable. Her cousin couldn't hold back any longer. He stood up, "Look Sheriff, they didn't get this dollar! We gave them money and they missed this one in my hand!"
The Sheriff stopped short and looked at Jordan. "You say they missed that dollar?"
"Yes, they missed it." Shirin felt Jordan's pride over flowing.
The Sheriff narrowed his eyes. "No kidding, let me see that dollar." Jordan quickly surrendered it over as the Sheriff expected it, holding it up to the light and checking to see if it was a counterfeit bill.
After his inspection he held it in one hand and said, "Well you know what they say don't you?" Jordan nodded side to side still smiling wide. "They say that sometimes the worse crooks are in law enforcement!" With that he pocketed that dollar and went down the isle proclaiming he was determined to catch those bandits.
Shirin and her cousin were shocked! Everyone around them burst out in laughter. After the Sheriff left, Shirin and Jordan couldn't stop talking about how the Sheriff had stolen the money! Their parents, through laughter, explained that all the actors are part of the same group.
Shirin stuck her hand in her pocket and felt her coin. As the moment passed She looked out the window as the train traveled down the tracks.
Again she thought about The Grand Canyon. It hadn't seemed real, she had wanted to surrender but couldn't. The Robbery was for sure not real and she had no problem pretending to surrender. The Sheriff looked real but was not safe to surrender to. Rubbing her finger around the edges of her coin Shirin thought about how the coin felt real and was easy to grasp. It would have seemed very small if it was placed on the side of the Grand Canyon. Maybe she should have left it at the edge, maybe then she would have grasped how grand the canyon was.
As the train moved further away, Shirin's heart longed for another view, for another chance to surrender. No pretending to surrender to some act, but really surrendering to something real.
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