Page 111 - The Kite Runner

100 Khaled Hosseini

leather. “For your stories,” he said. I was going to thank him when
something exploded and bursts of fire lit up the sky.
“Fireworks!”
We hurried back to the house and found the guests all stand-
ing in the yard, looking up to the sky. Kids hooted and screamed
with each crackle and whoosh. People cheered, burst into
applause each time flares sizzled and exploded into bouquets of
fire. Every few seconds, the backyard lit up in sudden flashes of
red, green, and yellow.
In one of those brief bursts of light, I saw something I’ll never
forget: Hassan serving drinks to Assef and Wali from a silver plat-
ter. The light winked out, a hiss and a crackle, then another
flicker of orange light: Assef grinning, kneading Hassan in the
chest with a knuckle.
Then, mercifully, darkness.