A Thousand Splendid Suns

"Let's go back," he says. Then, "I have something to give you."
* * *
Laila watts for Hamza in the garden by the front door. The boy who had
served them tea earlier is standing beneath one of the fig trees holding a
chicken, watching her impassively. Laila spies two faces, an old woman
and a young girl in hijab observing her demurely from a window.
The door to the house opens and Hamza emerges. He is carrying a box.
He gives it to Laila.
"Jalil Khan gave this to my father a month or so before he died/' Hamza
says. "He asked my father to safeguard it for Mariam until she came to
claim it. My father kept it for two years. Then, just before he passed
away, he gave it to me, and asked me to save it for Mariam. But
she…you know, she never came."
Laila looks down at the oval-shaped tin box. It looks like an old
chocolate box. It's olive green, with fading gilt scrolls all around the
hinged lid There is a little rust on the sides, and two tiny dents on the
front rim of the lid. Laila tries to open the box, but the latch is locked.
"What's in it?" she asks.
Hamza puts a key in her palm. "My father never unlocked it. Neither
did 1.Isuppose it was God's will that it be you."
* * *
Back at the hotel, Tariq and the children are not back yet.
Laila sits on the bed, the box on her lap. Part of her wants to leave it
unopened, let whatever Jalil had intended remain a secret. But, in the