A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini [40]
But Laila didn’t tell Hasina that Babi had said these things, or how glad she was to have a father like him, or how proud she was of his regard for her, or how determined she was to pursue her education just as he had his. For the last two years, Laila had received the awal numra certificate, given yearly to the top-ranked student in each grade. She said nothing of these things to Hasina, though, whose own father was an ill-tempered taxi driver who in two or three years would almost certainly give her away. Hasina had told Laila, in one of her infrequent serious moments, that it had already been decided that she would marry a first cousin who was twenty years older than her and owned an auto shop in Lahore. I’ve seen him twice, Hasina had said. Both times he ate with his mouth open.
“Beans, girls,” Hasina said. “You remember that. Unless, of course”—here she flashed an impish grin and nudged Laila with an elbow—“it’s your young handsome, one legged prince who comes knocking. Then . . .”
Laila slapped the elbow away. She would have taken offense if anyone else had said that about Tariq. But she knew that Hasina wasn’t malicious. She mocked—it was what she did—and her mocking spared no one, least of all herself.
“You shouldn’t talk that way about people!” Giti said.
“What people is that?”
“People who’ve been injured because of war,” Giti said earnestly, oblivious to Hasina’s toying.
“I think Mullah Giti here has a crush on Tariq. I knew it! Ha! But he’s already spoken for, don’t you know? Isn’t he, Laila?”
“I do not have a crush. On anyone!”
They broke off from Laila, and, still arguing this way, turned in to their street.
Laila walked alone the last three blocks. When she was on her street, she noticed that the blue Benz was still parked there, outside Rasheed and Mariam’s house. The elderly man in the brown suit was standing by the hood now, leaning on a cane, looking up at the house.
That was when a voice behind Laila said, “Hey. Yellow Hair. Look here.”
Laila turned around and was greeted by the barrel of a gun.
17.
The gun was red, the trigger guard bright green. Behind the gun loomed Khadim’s grinning face. Khadim was eleven, like Tariq. He was thick, tall, and had a severe underbite. His father was a butcher in Deh-Mazang, and, from time to time, Khadim was known to fling bits of calf intestine at passersby. Sometimes, if Tariq wasn’t nearby, Khadim shadowed Laila in the schoolyard at recess, leering, making little whining noises. One time, he’d tapped her on the shoulder and said, You’re so very pretty, Yellow Hair. I want to marry you.
Now he waved the gun. “Don’t worry,” he said. “This won’t show. Not on your hair.”
“Don’t you do it! I’m warning you.”
“What are you going to do?” he said. “Sic your cripple on me? ‘Oh, Tariq jan. Oh, won’t you come home and save me from the badmash!’ ”
Laila began to backpedal, but Khadim was already pumping the trigger. One after another, thin jets of warm water struck Laila’s hair, then her palm when she raised it to shield her face.
Now the other boys came out of their hiding, laughing, cackling.
An insult Laila had heard on the street rose to her lips.
She didn’t really understand it—couldn’t quite picture the logistics of it—but the words packed a fierce potency, and she unleashed them now.
“Your mother eats cock!”
“At least she’s not a loony like yours,” Khadim shot back, unruffled. “At least my father’s not a sissy! And, by the way, why don’t you smell your hands?”
The other boys took up the chant. “Smell your hands! Smell your hands!”
Laila did, but she knew even before she did, what he’d meant about it not showing in her hair. She let out a high-pitched yelp. At this, the boys hooted even harder.
Laila turned around and, howling, ran home.
SHE DREW WATER from the well, and,