"You'll have to forgive me,hamshira," he said, adjusting hisloose collar and dabbing1 at his brow with a handkerchief "I stillhaven't quite recovered, I fear. Five more days of these, whatare they called…sulfa pills."Laila positioned herself in her seat so that her right ear, thegood one, was closest to him. "Were you a friend of myparents?""No, no," Abdul Sharif said quickly. "Forgive me." He raised afinger, took a long sip2 of the water that Mariam had placed infront of him.
"I should begin at the beginning, I suppose." He dabbed3 athis lips, again at his brow. "I am a businessman. I ownclothing stores, mostly men's clothing.Chapans, hats,iumban%,suits, ties-you name it. Two stores here in Kabul, in Taimaniand Shar-e-Nau, though I just sold those. And two in Pakistan,in Peshawar. That's where my warehouse4 is as well. So I travela lot, back and forth5. Which, these days"-he shook his headand chuckled6 tiredly-"let's just say that it's an adventure.
"I was in Peshawar recently, on business, taking orders, goingover inventory7, that sort of thing. Also to visit my family. Wehave three daughters,alhamdulellah. I moved them and my wifeto Peshawar after the Mujahideen began going at each other'sthroats. I won't have their names added to theshaheedlist. Normine, to be honest. I'll be joining them there verysoon,inshallah.
"Anyway, I was supposed to be back in Kabul the Wednesdaybefore last. But, as luck would have it, I came down with anillness. I won't bother you with it,hamshira, suffice it to say thatwhen I went to do my private business, the simpler of the two,it felt like passing chunks9 of broken glass. I wouldn't wish it onHekmatyar himself. My wife, Nadia jan, Allah bless her, shebegged me to see a doctor. But I thought I'd beat it withaspirin and a lot of water. Nadia jan insisted and I said no,back and forth we went. You know the saying^stubborn assneeds a stubborn driver. This time, I'm afraid, the ass8 won.
That would be me."He drank the rest of this water and extended the glass toMariam. "If it's not too muchzahmat."Mariam took the glass and went to fill it.
"Needless to say, I should have listened to her. She's alwaysbeen the more sensible one, God give her a long life. By thetime I made it to the hospital, I was burning with a fever andshaking like abeid tree in the wind. I could barely stand. Thedoctor said I had blood poisoning. She said two or three moredays and I would have made my wife a widow.
"They put me in a special unit, reserved for really sick people,I suppose. Oh,iashakor." He took the glass from Mariam andfrom his coat pocket produced a large white pill. "Thesize ofthese things."Laila watched him swallow his pill She was aware that herbreathing had quickened Her legs felt heavy, as though weightshad been tethered to them. She told herself that he wasn'tdone, that he hadn't told her anything as yet. But he would goon in a second, and she resisted an urge to get up and leave,leave before he told her things she didn't want to hear.
Abdul Sharif set his glass on the table.
"That's where I met your friend, Mohammad Tariq Walizai."Laila's heart sped up. Tariq in a hospital? A special unit?Forreally sick people?
She swallowed dry spit. Shifted on her chair. She had to steelherself. If she didn't, she feared she would come unhinged. Shediverted her thoughts from hospitals and special units andthought instead about the fact that she hadn't heard Tariqcalled by his full name since the two of them had enrolled10 in aFarsi winter course years back. The teacher would call roll afterthe bell and say his name like that-Mohammad Tariq Walizai. Ithad struck her as comically officious then, hearing his full nameuttered.
"What happened to him I heard from one of the nurses,"Abdul Sharif resumed, tapping his chest with a fist as if to easethe passage of the pill. "With all the time I've spent inPeshawar, I've become pretty proficient12 in Urdu. Anyway, whatI gathered was that your friend was in a lorry full of refugees,twenty-three of them, all headed for Peshawar. Near theborder, they were caught in cross fire. A rocket hit the lorry.
Probably a stray, but you never know with these people, younever know. There were only six survivors13, all of themadmitted to the same unit. Three died within twenty-four hours.
Two of them lived-sisters, as I understood it-and had beendischarged.
Your friend Mr. Walizai was the last. He'd been there foralmost three weeks by the time I arrived."So he was alive. But how badly had they hurt him? Lailawondered frantically14. How badly? Badly enough to be put in aspecial unit, evidently. Laila was aware that she had startedsweating, that her face felt hot. She tried to think of somethingelse, something pleasant, like the trip to Bamiyan to see theBuddhas with Tariq and Babi. But instead an image of Tariq'sparents presented itself: Tariq's mother trapped in the lorry,upside down, screaming for Tariq through the smoke, her armsand chest on fire, the wig15 melting into her scalp…Laila had to take a series of rapid breaths.
"He was in the bed next to mine. There were no walls, onlya curtain between us. So I could see him pretty well."Abdul Sharif found a sudden need to toy with his weddingband. He spoke16 more slowly now.
"Your friend, he was badly-very badly-injured, you understand.
He had rubber tubes coming out of him everywhere. At first-"He cleared his throat. "At first, I thought he'd lost both legs inthe attack, but a nurse said no, only the right, the left one wason account of an old injury. There were internal injuries too.
They'd operated three times already. Took out sections ofintestines, I don't remember what else. And he was burned.
Quite badly. That's all I'll say about that. I'm sure you haveyour fair share of nightmares,hamshira. No sense in me addingto them."Tariq was legless now. He was a torso with twostumps.Legless. Laila thought she might collapse17. With deliberate,desperate effort, she sent the tendrils of her mind out of thisroom, out the window, away from this man, over the streetoutside, over the city now, and its flat-topped houses andbazaars, its maze18 of narrow streets turned to sand castles.
"He was drugged up most of the time. For the pain, youunderstand. But he had moments when the drugs werewearing off when he was clear. In pain but clear of mind Iwould talk to him from my bed. I told him who I was, whereI was from. He was glad, I think, that there was ahamwaiannext to him.
"I did most of the talking. It was hard for him to. His voicewas hoarse19, and I think it hurt him to move his lips. So I toldhim about my daughters, and about our house in Peshawarand the veranda20 my brother-in-law and I are building out inthe back. I told him I had sold the stores in Kabul and that Iwas going back to finish up the paperwork. It wasn't much.
But it occupied him. At least, I like to think it did.
"Sometimes he talked too. Half the time, I couldn't make outwhat he was saying, but I caught enough. He described wherehe'd lived.
He talked about his uncle in Ghazni. And his mother's cookingand his father's carpentry, him playing the accordion21.
"But, mostly, he talked about you,hamshira. He said youwere-how did he put it-his earliest memory. I think that's right,yes. I could tell he cared a great deal about you.Balay, thatmuch was plain to see. But he said he was glad you weren'tthere. He said he didn't want you seeing him like that."Laila's feet felt heavy again, anchored to the floor, as if all herblood had suddenly pooled down there. But her mind was faraway, free and fleet, hurtling like a speeding missile beyondKabul, over craggy brown hills and over deserts ragged22 withclumps of sage11, past canyons23 of jagged red rock and oversnowcapped mountains…"When I told him I was going back to Kabul, he asked me tofind you. To tell you that he was thinking of you. That hemissed you. I promised him I would I'd taken quite a liking24 tohim, you see. He was a decent sort of boy, I could tell."Abdul Sharif wiped his brow with the handkerchief.
"I woke up one night," he went on, his interest in thewedding band renewed, "I think it was night anyway, it's hardto tell in those places. There aren't any windows. Sunrise,sundown, you just don't know. But I woke up, and there wassome sort of commotion25 around the bed next to mine. Youhave to understand that I was full of drugs myself, alwaysslipping in and out, to the point where it was hard to tell whatwas real and what you'd dreamed up. All I remember is,doctors huddled26 around the bed, calling for this and that,alarms bleeping, syringes all over the ground.
"In the morning, the bed was empty. I asked a nurse. Shesaid he fought valiantly27."Laila was dimly aware that she was nodding. She'd known. Ofcourse she'd known. She'd known the moment she had satacross from this man why he was here, what news he wasbringing.
"At first, you see, at first I didn't think you even existed," hewas saying now. "I thought it was the morphine talking. MaybeI evenhopedyou didn't exist; I've always dreaded28 bearing badnews. But I promised him. And, like I said, I'd become ratherfond of him. So I came by here a few days ago. I askedaround for you, talked to some neighbors. They pointed29 to thishouse. They also told me what had happened to your parents.
When I heard about that, well, I turned around and left. Iwasn't going to tell you. I decided30 it would be too much foryou. For anybody."Abdul Sharif reached across the table and put a hand on herkneecap. "But I came back. Because, in the end, I think hewould have wanted you to know. I believe that. I'm so sorry. Iwish…"Laila wasn't listening anymore. She was remembering the daythe man from Panjshir had come to deliver the news ofAhmad's and Noor's deaths. She remembered Babi, white-faced,slumping on the couch, and Mammy, her hand flying to hermouth when she heard. Laila had watched Mammy comeundone that day and it had scared her, but she hadn't feltany true sorrow. She hadn't understood the awfulness of hermother's loss. Now another stranger bringing news of anotherdeath. Nowshe was the one sitting on the chair. Was this herpenalty, then, her punishment for being aloof31 to her ownmother's suffering?
Laila remembered how Mammy had dropped to the ground,how she'd screamed, torn at her hair. But Laila couldn't evenmanage that. She could hardly move. She could hardly move amuscle.
She sat on the chair instead, hands limp in her lap, eyesstaring at nothing, and let her mind fly on. She let it fly onuntil it found the place, the good and safe place, where thebarley fields were green, where the water ran clear and thecottonwood seeds danced by the thousands in the air; whereBabi was reading a book beneath an acacia and Tariq wasnapping with his hands laced across his chest, and where shecould dip her feet in the stream and dream good dreamsbeneath the watchful32 gaze of gods of ancient, sun-bleachedrock.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
dabbing
|
|
| 石面凿毛，灰泥抛毛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
sip
|
|
| v.小口地喝，抿，呷；n.一小口的量 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
dabbed
|
|
| （用某物）轻触( dab的过去式和过去分词 )； 轻而快地擦掉（或抹掉）； 快速擦拭； （用某物）轻而快地涂上（或点上）… | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
warehouse
|
|
| n.仓库；vt.存入仓库 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
chuckled
|
|
| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
inventory
|
|
| n.详细目录，存货清单 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
ass
|
|
| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
chunks
|
|
| 厚厚的一块( chunk的名词复数 )； （某物）相当大的数量或部分 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
enrolled
|
|
| adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
sage
|
|
| n.圣人，哲人；adj.贤明的，明智的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
proficient
|
|
| adj.熟练的，精通的；n.能手，专家 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
survivors
|
|
| 幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
frantically
|
|
| ad.发狂地, 发疯地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
wig
|
|
| n.假发 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
spoke
|
|
| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
collapse
|
|
| vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
maze
|
|
| n.迷宫，八阵图，混乱，迷惑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
hoarse
|
|
| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
veranda
|
|
| n.走廊；阳台 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
accordion
|
|
| n.手风琴；adj.可折叠的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
ragged
|
|
| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
canyons
|
|
| n.峡谷( canyon的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
liking
|
|
| n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
commotion
|
|
| n.骚动，动乱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
huddled
|
|
| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
valiantly
|
|
| adv.勇敢地，英勇地；雄赳赳 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
dreaded
|
|
| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
decided
|
|
| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
aloof
|
|
| adj.远离的；冷淡的，漠不关心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
watchful
|
|
| adj.注意的，警惕的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |