A Thousand Splendid Suns

salty or too bland for his taste. The rice was judged either too greasy or
too dry, the bread declared too doughy or too crispy. Rasheed's
faultfinding left her stricken in the kitchen with self-doubt.
When she brought him his plate, the national anthem was playing on
the radio.
"I made sabzi," she said.
"Put it down and be quiet."
After the music faded, a man's voice came on the radio. He announced
himself as Air Force Colonel Abdul Qader. He reported that earlier in the
day the rebel Fourth Armored Division had seized the airport and key
intersections in the city. Kabul Radio, the ministries of Communication
and the Interior, and the Foreign Ministry building had also been
captured. Kabul was in the hands of the people now, he said proudly.
Rebel MiGs had attacked the Presidential Palace. Tanks had broken into
the premises, and a fierce battle was under way there. Daoud's loyalist
forces were all but defeated, Abdul Qader said in a reassuring tone.
Days later, when the communists began the summary executions of
those connected with Daoud Khan's regime, when rumors began floating
about Kabul of eyes gouged and genitals electrocuted in the
Pol-e-Charkhi Prison, Mariam would hear of the slaughter that had taken
place at the Presidential Palace. Daoud Khan hadbten killed, but not
before the communist rebels had killed some twenty members of his
family, including women and grandchildren. There would be rumors that
he had taken his own life, that he'd been gunned down in the heat of
battle; rumors that he'd been saved for last, made to watch the massacre
of his family, then shot.