Page 60 - Leadership in the Indian Army

"Don't leave like this," he said in a thin voice.

"You didn't even have the decency to give me the time to say good-bye
to Mullah Faizullah."

She turned and walked around to the side of the bus. She could hear

him following her. When she reached the hydraulic doors, she heard him
behind her.

"Mariamjo."

She climbed the stairs, and though she could spot Jalil out of the corner

of her eye walking parallel to her she did not look out the window. She

made her way down the aisle to the back, where Rasheed sat with her

suitcase between his feet. She did not turn to look when Jalil's palms
pressed on the glass, when his knuckles rapped and rapped on it. When

the bus jerked forward, she did not turn to see him trotting alongside it.

And when the bus pulled away, she did not look back to see him
receding, to see him disappear in the cloud of exhaust and dust.

Rasheed, who took up the window and middle seat, put his thick hand
on hers.

"There now, girl There. There," he said. He was squinting out the

window as he said this, as though something more interesting had caught
his eye.

9.

It was early evening the following day by the time they arrived at

Rasheed's house.