Growing Up Bin Laden - Jean P. Sasson [104]
“That was the happiest day of my young life. Although my mother and Muhammad Attas would not allow me to drive it alone for a few more years, our driver or Muhammad would take me out for a spin, to my immense joy.
“Of course, your grandfather was killed when I was ten years old, so I never had a second occasion to privately meet with him.”
After hearing such childhood tales, I felt sorry for my father, yet I was puzzled. If after so many years he could recall how pained he was when his father struck him or ignored him, I could not understand how he could so easily, even eagerly, beat or ignore his own sons. I never got the courage to ask my father that question, although I am sorry now that my nerve failed me.
Although being on Tora Bora gave me the opportunity to spend time with my elusive father, it was far too challenging a place for human life. If any of us were struck by illness, we were far from any medical help. As fate would have it, one morning I was stricken with a high fever. Believing I had contracted a cold virus, I slept late, but sleeping failed to bring a cure. Restless, I became more ill with a splitting headache and body cramps. All I wanted was my mother, for she was always so reassuring when one of her children grew ill, petting us with kind words and preparing hot soups. But my mother was thousands of miles away in Khartoum, unaware that her son Omar was too sick to even cry out for help.
I became so unwell that my father’s men grew alarmed, calling in one of the drivers, a man by the name of Shear. My writhing torment goaded Shear into action. He shouted out that he would transport me to Jalalabad.
I have no recollection of my father’s whereabouts on that morning, but knowing him, he had probably taken a long hike. No man on earth enjoys a hike in the high mountains quite as much as my father.
So, without my father’s knowledge, I was loaded into a car to be taken to Jalalabad. The drive there was the most miserable of my life. My fever worsened and I continued vomiting. I twisted and turned. Poor Shear, the driver, drove far too fast for the narrow winding roads. I’m surprised we didn’t plunge off the mountain. In record time, he arrived at the hospital in Jalalabad, where a student learning to draw blood tested his poor medical skills on me. Eventually I was diagnosed with typhoid fever and malaria. Indeed, the doctor warned the men with me that I might die.
The doctor in charge ordered a number of injections and medications. My father’s men refused to leave me unattended in the hospital, so I was discharged to be taken to the old palace. I was surprised to be told that there was no room for me at the palace, for by that time my father’s war veterans from Pakistan, Yemen, and other countries were converging on Afghanistan, bringing their wives and daughters with them. Females had taken over the old palace. Due to our restrictive culture, men were no longer allowed inside with the women. I ended up convalescing from two very serious diseases on a cotton mattress under a shady tree in the garden.
There I lay, slipping in and out of consciousness for three days. Youth was on my side and although greatly weakened, I slowly recovered. Before I was fully well, my father sent orders that I should return to Tora Bora to recuperate. Once there, I collapsed on the floor mattress. Within twenty-four hours my illness flared up with a vengeance. The frantic run to the Jalalabad hospital was repeated.
I recall nothing of that second trip down the mountain, but I do have a dim memory of being treated by the same young doctor. He was small and slim with a thin beard, but I was doing so poorly that an older doctor was called to consult on my case. But all he did was prescribe additional medications. Once more I was returned to the palace to sleep under the same tree.
I think everyone was astonished that I didn’t end up wrapped in a shroud and buried in the sands of Afghanistan.
My father’s health was another story. There has been much speculation about my father suffering from severe kidney disorders,