A Thousand Splendid Suns

* * *
The children need reassuring, each in their own way. Laila has to sit
down with an agitated Aziza, who still has nightmares, who'd been
startled to tears the week before when someone had shot rounds into the
sky at a wedding nearby. Laila has to explain to Aziza that when they
return to Kabul the Taliban won't be there, that there will not be any
fighting, and that she will not be sent back to the orphanage. "We'll all
live together. Your father, me, Zalmai. And you, Aziza. You'll never,
ever, have to be apart from me again. I promise." She smiles at her
daughter. "Until the day you want to, that is. When you fall in love with
some young man and want to marry him."
On the day they leave Murree, Zalmai is inconsolable. He has wrapped
his arms around Alyona's neck and will not let go.
"I can't pry him off of her, Mammy," says Aziza.
"Zalmai. We can't take a goat on the bus," Laila explains again.
It isn't until Tariq kneels down beside him, until he promises Zalmai
that he will buy him a goat just like Alyona in Kabul, that Zalmai
reluctantly lets go.
There are tearful farewells with Sayeed as well For good luck, he holds
a Koran by the doorway for Tariq, Laila, and the children to kiss three
times, then holds it high so they can pass under it. He helps Tariq load
the two suitcases into the trunk of his car. It is Sayeed who drives them
to the station, who stands on the curb waving good-bye as the bus
sputters and pulls away.