She would take those earphones everywhere
and this was when they were still quite new
in the village
and not everyone understood exactly
what they were for.

Her father had given them to her
when she’d visited him in the city
along with a small cassette player
which she kept continuously strapped to her belt
and only removed
when it was time to wash
or to sleep.

She had only one cassette
to put into the player
some pop band
that sang only saccharine
and simple melodies
each one barely distinguishable
from the other.

Yet even when the batteries
ran down
and the war began
she’d still keep the earphones
over her ears
and the player strapped to her belt;
when she was nervous or scared
she would reach up
and touch the earphones
and think of her father.

When she was much older
she would tell everyone
that that was how she had made it
through the war.

– matt at shadow of iris
the-earphones