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the kite runner-第44部分
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husband; a burly man in baggy pants and sky blue turban; cradled an infant in one arm and thumbed prayer beads with his free hand。 His lips moved in silent prayer。 There were others; in all about a dozen; including Baba and me; sitting with our suitcases between our legs; cramped with these strangers in the tarpaulin…covered cab of an old Russian truck。
My innards had been roiling since we d left Kabul just after two in the morning。 Baba never said so; but I knew he saw my car sickness as yet another of my array of weakness……I saw it on his embarrassed face the couple of times my stomach had clenched so badly I had moaned。 When the burly guy with the beads……the praying woman s husband……asked if I was going to get sick; I said I might。 Baba looked away。 The man lifted his corner of the tarpaulin cover and rapped on the driver s window; asked him to stop。 But the driver; Karim; a scrawny dark…skinned man with hawk…boned features and a pencil…thin mustache; shook his head。
We are too close to Kabul; he shot back。 Tell him to have a strong stomach。
Baba grumbled something under his breath。 I wanted to tell him I was sorry; but suddenly I was salivating; the back of my throat tasting bile。 I turned around; lifted the tarpaulin; and threw up over the side of the moving truck。 Behind me; Baba was apologizing to the other passengers。 As if car sickness was a crime。 As if you weren t supposed to get sick when you were eighteen。 I threw up two more times before Karim agreed to stop; mostly so I wouldn t stink up his vehicle; the instrument of his livelihood。 Karim was a people smuggler……it was a pretty lucrative business then; driving people out of Shorawi…occupied Kabul to the relative safety of Pakistan。 He was taking us to Jalalabad; about 170 kilometers southeast of Kabul; where his brother; Toor; who had a bigger truck with a second convoy of refugees; was waiting to drive us across the Khyber Pass and into Peshawar。
We were a few kilometers west of Mahipar Falls when Karim pulled to the side of the road。 Mahipar……which means Flying Fish ……was a high summit with a precipitous drop overlooking the hydro plant the Germans had built for Afghanistan back in 1967。 Baba and I had driven over the summit countless times on our way to Jalalabad; the city of cypress trees and sugarcane fields where Afghans vacationed in the winter。
I hopped down the back of the truck and lurched to the dusty embankment on the side of the road。 My mouth filled with saliva; a sign of the retching that was yet to e。 I stumbled to the edge of the cliff overlooking the deep valley that was shrouded in dark ness。 I stooped; hands on my kneecaps; and waited for the bile。 Somewhere; a branch snapped; an owl hooted。 The wind; soft and cold; clicked through tree branches and stirred the bushes that sprinkled the slope。 And from below; the faint sound of water tumbling through the valley。
Standing on the shoulder of the road; I thought of the way we d left the house where I d lived my entire life; as if we were going out for a bite: dishes smeared with kofta piled in the kitchen sink; laundry in the wicker basket in
the foyer; beds unmade; Baba s business suits hanging in the closet。 Tapestries still hung on the walls of the living room and my mother s books still crowded the shelves in Baba s study。 The signs of our elopement were subtle: My parents wedding picture was gone; as was the grainy photograph of my grandfather and King Nader Shah standing over the dead deer。 A few items of clothing were missing from the closets。 The leather…bound notebook Rahim Khan had given me five years earlier was gone。
In the morning; Jalaluddin……our seventh servant in five years……would probably think we d gone out for a stroll or a drive。 We hadn t told him。 You couldn t trust anyone in Kabul any more……for a fee or under threat; people told on each other; neighbor on neighbor; child on parent; brother on brother; servant on master; friend on friend。 I thought of the singer Ahmad Zahir; who had played the accordion at my thirteenth birthday。 He had gone for a drive with some friends; and someone had later found hi
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