Page 181 - The Kite Runner

170 Khaled Hosseini

For all the frenzied preparations that went into the wedding
night—most of it, blessedly, by Khanum Taheri and her friends—
I remember only a handful of moments from it.
I remember our nika. We were seated around a table, Soraya
and I dressed in green—the color of Islam, but also the color of
spring and new beginnings. I wore a suit, Soraya (the only woman
at the table) a veiled long-sleeved dress. Baba, General Taheri (in
a tuxedo this time), and several of Soraya’s uncles were also pres-
ent at the table. Soraya and I looked down, solemnly respectful,
casting only sideway glances at each other. The mullah questioned
the witnesses and read from the Koran. We said our oaths. Signed
the certificates. One of Soraya’s uncles from Virginia, Sharif jan,
Khanum Taheri’s brother, stood up and cleared his throat. Soraya
had told me that he had lived in the U.S. for more than twenty years.
He worked for the INS and had an American wife. He was also a
poet. A small man with a birdlike face and fluffy hair, he read a
lengthy poem dedicated to Soraya, jotted down on hotel stationery
paper. “Wah wah, Sharif jan!” everyone exclaimed when he finished.
I remember walking toward the stage, now in my tuxedo, Soraya
a veiled pari in white, our hands locked. Baba hobbled next to me,
the general and his wife beside their daughter. A procession of
uncles, aunts, and cousins followed as we made our way through
the hall, parting a sea of applauding guests, blinking at flashing
cameras. One of Soraya’s cousins, Sharif jan’s son, held a Koran
over our heads as we inched along. The wedding song, ahesta boro,
blared from the speakers, the same song the Russian soldier at the
Mahipar checkpoint had sung the night Baba and I left Kabul:

Make morning into a key and throw it into the well,
Go slowly, my lovely moon, go slowly.