On the wall of the council building, they have hung banners bearing the images of eighteen of the dead. Esmail comes to meet us at the entrance and stands beside the banner, introducing them one by one, like a traditional storyteller:
“Martyr Hamid Amini had a PhD in naval engineering from Sharif University of Technology. He lived in Norway. He had come to Lamerd to visit his family. They told him to go back to Norway, that war was about to break out. He replied, ‘I am like ninety million Iranians—my blood is no more precious than theirs.’”
I look at his photograph: a red tie against a white shirt, his jacket draped over his right arm.
“Avina Barzegar was barely two years old. She was in the yard with her mother when a fragment struck her. She died on the way to the hospital.”
“Martyr Seyed Reza Mousavi also has his own story. His father is the guard at the Lamerd blood transfusion center. He himself was standing at the entrance, waiting to go with his mother to buy things for iftar, when a missile fragment hit him and he was killed.”
It is hard to believe that something of this magnitude has happened in the province—that so many civilians have been killed—and yet, after a month, it has scarcely been reflected in the media. I reproach myself for having been so negligent.

روی دیوار شورا بنر هجده تا از شهدا را زده‌اند. اسماعیل، درب شورا آمد دنبالمان. کنار بنر می‌ایستد و مثل پرده‌خوان‌ها یکی یکی شهدا را معرفی می‌کند:
«شهید حمید امینی دکترای مهندسی کشتی از دانشگاه صنعتی شریف داشته. ساکن نروژ بوده. اومده بوده لامرد خونواده‌ش رو ببینه. بهش گفتن برگرد نروژ الان جنگ میشه، جواب داده منم مثل نود میلیون ایرانی. خونم که رنگین‌تر نیست.»
به عکس شهید نگاه می‌کنم. کراوات قرمز با پس‌زمینه پیراهن سفید و کت روی دست راست.
«آوینا برزگر هم دو ساله‌ش بیشتر نبوده. توی حیاط پیش مامانش بوده که ترکش بهش می‌خوره و تا میبرنش بیمارستان شهید میشه.»
«شهید سیدرضا موسوی هم برای خودش داستانی داره. پدرش نگهبان اداره انتقال خون لامرده. خودش ایستاده بوده دم در اداره تا همراه مادرش برن برای خرید افطار که ترکش موشک بهش میخوره و شهید میشه.»
باور این‌که اتفاقی به این مهمی در استان افتاده باشد، این همه شهید غیرنظامی داده باشیم و بعد از یک ماه چندان رسانه‌ای نشده باشد، سخت است. خودم را سرزنش می‌کنم که چرا کاهلی کردم.