"You're cool" or "Why would someone from the US Embassy come see us?"

Valentina was fond of Kimberly Emerson. The American had spent two hours with us at KunstAsyl. Valentina had whipped up a curl in her hair with a "Balkan curler". Hameed, Jasim and Tchatcha had invited her for tea.

We sat on the beds in Hameed's room. The bed opposite of the door with its messy sheets reminded us of the early morning of January 28 when Ahsan was deported to Sweden by the police for repatriation to Afghanistan. There is an entry in his diary saying, "It is hard to fly when something is weighting you down." A few months ago, Hameed would sign a handwritten statement to his lawyer with "If Germany want to send me back I will suicide. Believe me." Destiny in less than a sentence. Written by young Afghan men, who would work for the Western world when at war with the Taliban - whether in Germany or like Hameed for the United States.

Tchatcha served Chai tea. We would balance little bowls with pink pudding on our knees.

Long after the black sedan had slowly driven away, someone asked me: "What made her come here? Did she come see us as a human being or to represent the US Embassy?" Somehow, this sounded like a very complex question? Kimberly Marteau Emerson is married to John B. Emerson, the U.S. Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany. There is no title for her job, other than the Ambassador's wife. She is a professional lawyer and activist. One way or the other, she is a human being. Something not even the Embassy's sedan can change.

"Everyone who wants to come see us is welcome," I am trying to answer. "Even Americans." She, who had asked me, did not agree. She is from Iran. Wikipedia tells me that the United States broke diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1980. A little further down it says that the Swiss government, acting through its Embassy in Tehran, serves as the Protecting Power of the USA in Iran since May 1980.

Uh-oh. We were just like that in the kitchen on the ground floor. Her, the Iranian and me, the Swiss.

We left it like that, incomprehension prevailing.

Valentina thought that Kimberly Emerson was cool; all afternoon Marsilda took pictures.