Page 395 - Leadership in the Indian Army

"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