Page 192 - Leadership in the Indian Army

was happy that she'd remembered
Then Babi was in the hallway, calling her name from the top of the

stairs, asking her to come up quickly.
"She's agreed!" he said, his voice tremulous with suppressed
excitement- "We're leaving, Laila. All three of us. We're leaving Kabul."

* * *

In Mammy's room, the three of them sat on the bed. Outside, rockets

were zipping across the sky as Hekmatyar's and Massoud's forces fought

and fought. Laila knew that somewhere in the city someone had just

died, and that a pall of black smoke was hovering over some building
that had collapsed in a puffing mass of dust. There would be bodies to

step around in the morning. Some would be collected. Others not. Then

Kabul's dogs, who had developed a taste for human meat, would feast.
All the same, Laila had an urge to run through those streets. She could

barely contain her own happiness. It took effort to sit, to not shriek with

joy. Babi said they would go to Pakistan first, to apply for visas.

Pakistan, where Tariq was! Tariq was only gone seventeen days, Laila
calculated excitedly. If only Mammy had made up her mind seventeen

days earlier, they could have left together. She would have been with
Tariq right now! But that didn't matter now. They were going to

Peshawar-she, Mammy, and Babi-and they would find Tariq and his
parents there. Surely they would. They would process their paperwork

together. Then, who knew? Who knew? Europe?

America? Maybe, as Babi was always saying, somewhere near the sea…

Mammy was half lying, half sitting against the headboard. Her eyes
were puffy. She was picking at her hair.

Three days before, Laila had gone outside for a breath of air. She'd