Page 51 - And the Mountains Echoed (novel)

“I want you to take me to Kabul.” Masooma exhales slowly, the smoke

twirling, curling, morphing into shapes with each blink of the eye.
“Are you serious?”
“I want to see Darulaman Palace. We didn’t get a chance to last time. Maybe
go visit Babur’s tomb again.”
Parwana leans forward to decipher Masooma’s expression. She searches for a
hint of playfulness, but in the moonlight she catches only the calm, unblinking
glitter of her sister’s eyes.

“It’s a two-day walk at least. Probably three.”
“Imagine Nabi’s face when we surprise him at his door.”
“We don’t even know where he lives.”
Masooma listlessly sweeps her hand. “He already told us which

neighborhood. We’ll knock on some doors and ask. It’s not that difficult.”
“How would we get there, Masooma, in your condition?”
Masooma pulls the hookah hose from her lips. “When you were out working
today, Mullah Shekib came by, and I spoke to him a long time. I told him we
were going to Kabul for a few days. Just you and I. He gave me his blessing in
the end. Also his mule. So you see, it’s all arranged.”
“You are insane,” Parwana says.

“Well, it’s what I want. It’s my wish.”
Parwana sits back against the wall, shaking her head. Her gaze drifts upward
into the cloud-mottled darkness.
“I’m so bored I’m dying, Parwana.”

Parwana empties her chest of a sigh and looks at her sister.
Masooma brings the hose to her lips. “Please. Don’t deny me.”

One early morning, when the sisters were seventeen, they sat on a

branch high up the oak tree, their feet dangling.
Saboor’s going to ask me! Masooma had said this in a high-pitched whisper.
Ask you? Parwana said, not understanding, at least not immediately.
Well, not him, of course. Masooma laughed into her palm. Of course not. His

father will be doing the asking.
Now Parwana understood. Her heart sank to her feet. How do you know? she
said through numb lips.