A Thousand Splendid Suns

physically. He planted a brisk kiss on the top of her head and hugged her
back awkwardly. They stood this way for a while, looking down on the
Bamiyan Valley.
"As much as I love this land, some days I think about leaving it," Babi
said.
"Whereto?"
"Anyplace where it's easy to forget. Pakistan first, I suppose. For a
year, maybe two. Wait for our paperwork to get processed."
"And then?"
"And then, well, it is a big world. Maybe America. Somewhere near the
sea. Like California."
Babi said the Americans were a generous people. They would help them
with money and food for a while, until they could get on their feet.
"I would find work, and, in a few years, when we had enough saved up,
we'd open a little Afghan restaurant-Nothing fancy, mind you, just a
modest little place, a few tables, some rugs. Maybe hang some pictures
of Kabul. We'd give the Americans a taste of Afghan food. And with your
mother's cooking, they'd line up and down the street.
"And you, you would continue going to school, of course. You know how
I feel about that. That would be our absolute top priority, to get you a
good education, high school then college. But in your free time, if you
wanted to, you could help out, take orders, fill water pitchers, that sort of