My daughter sent a voice note from the refugee camp

Dear Delyara, My daughter and two grandchildren are in a refugee camp near the border. I reached Germany last year through a different route and have been trying to bring them legally. Tonight, she sent a voice note because the signal was too weak for a call. She said the children had eaten, the tent was dry, and I should not worry. Behind her voice, I could hear my grandson coughing. She spoke too cheerfully, the way people do when they are protecting someone far away from facts that cannot be changed. At the end, my granddaughter sang half of the alphabet song I taught her before we were separated. She forgot the middle and started laughing. The recording is forty-three seconds long. I have played it until the laughter sounds almost worn out. In the room where I live, there is heating, clean water, and a spare mattress. The distance between that mattress and my grandchildren is made entirely of paperwork. Officials say the application is being processed. Every form asks me to prove the relationship. I have birth certificates, photographs, school records, and the same eyes as my daughter. None of them show what it feels like to hear a child cough through a phone and be unable to place a hand on his back.