A thousand Splendid Suns

hand is the kingdom, and He Who has power over all things, Who created death and life 
that He may try you. Or when he'd said of her own guilt,These thoughts are no good, 
Mariam jo. They will destroy you. It wasn't your fault It wasn't your fault. 
  What could she say to this girl that would ease her burden? 
  As it turned out, Mariam didn't have to say anything. Because the girl's face twisted, 
and she was on all fours then saying she was going to be sick. 
  "Wait! Hold on. I'll get a pan. Not on the floor. I just cleaned…Oh. Oh.Khodaya. 
God." 
 
* * * 
 
  Then one day, about a month after the blast that killed the girl's parents, a man came 
knocking. Mariam opened the door. He stated his business. 
 
  "There is a man here to see you," Mariam said. 
  The girl raised her head from the pillow. 
  "He says his name is Abdul Sharif." 
  "I don't know any Abdul Sharif." 
  "Well, he's here asking for you. You need to come down and talk to him." 
 
28. 

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  Laila 
  JLaila sat across from Abdul Sharif, who was a thin, small-headed man with a bulbous 
nose pocked with the same cratered scars that pitted his cheeks. His hair, short and 
brown, stood on his scalp like needles in a pincushion. 
  "You'll have to forgive me,hamshira," he said, adjusting his loose collar and dabbing 
at his brow with a handkerchief "I still haven't quite recovered, I fear. Five more days of 
these, what are they called…sulfa pills." 
  Laila positioned herself in her seat so that her right ear, the good one, was closest to 
him. "Were you a friend of my parents?" 
  "No, no," Abdul Sharif said quickly. "Forgive me." He raised a finger, took a long sip 
of the water that Mariam had placed in front of him. 
  "I should begin at the beginning, I suppose." He dabbed at his lips, again at his brow. 
"I am a businessman. I own clothing stores, mostly men's clothing.Chapans, hats,ium-
ban%, suits, ties-you name it. Two stores here in Kabul, in Taimani and Shar-e-Nau, 
though I just sold those. And two in Pakistan, in Peshawar. That's where my warehouse 
is as well. So I travel a lot, back and forth. Which, these days"-he shook his head and 
chuckled tiredly-"let's just say that it's an adventure. 
 
  "I was in Peshawar recently, on business, taking orders, going over inventory, that sort 
of thing. Also to visit my family. We have three daughters,alhamdulellah. I moved them 
and my wife to Peshawar after the Mujahideen began going at each other's throats. I 
won't have their names added to theshaheedlist. Nor mine, to be honest. I'll be joining 
them there very soon,inshallah. 
  "Anyway, I was supposed to be back in Kabul the Wednesday before last. But, as luck 
would have it, I came down with an illness. I won't bother you with it,hamshira, suffice 
it to say that when I went to do my private business, the simpler of the two, it felt like 
passing chunks of broken glass. I wouldn't wish it on Hekmatyar himself. My wife, Na-
dia jan, Allah bless her, she begged me to see a doctor. But I thought I'd beat it with as-
pirin and a lot of water. Nadia jan insisted and I said no, back and forth we went. You 
know the saying^stubborn ass needs a stubborn driver. This time, I'm afraid, the ass 
won. That would be me." 
  He drank the rest of this water and extended the glass to Mariam. "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 always been the more sensible 
one, God give her a long life. By the time I made it to the hospital, I was burning with a 
fever and shaking like abeid tree in the wind. I could barely stand. The doctor said I had 
blood poisoning. She said two or three more days and I would have made my wife a wi-
dow. 
  "They put me in a special unit, reserved for really sick people, I suppose. Oh,iasha-