Page 259 - The Kite Runner
P. 259

248              Khaled Hosseini


              “What?”
              “Don’t ever stare at them! Do you understand me? Never!”
              “I didn’t mean to,” I said.
              “Your  friend  is  quite  right, Agha. You  might  as  well  poke  a
          rabid dog with a stick,” someone said. This new voice belonged to
          an  old  beggar  sitting  barefoot  on  the  steps  of  a  bullet-scarred
          building. He wore a threadbare chapan worn to frayed shreds and
          a  dirt-crusted  turban.  His  left  eyelid  drooped  over  an  empty
          socket. With an arthritic hand, he pointed to the direction the
          red  truck  had  gone.  “They  drive  around  looking.  Looking  and
          hoping that someone will provoke them. Sooner or later, someone
          always obliges. Then the dogs feast and the day’s boredom is bro-
          ken at last and everyone says ‘Allah-u-akbar!’ And on those days
          when no one offends, well, there is always random violence, isn’t
          there?”
              “Keep your eyes on your feet when the Talibs are near,” Farid
          said.
              “Your friend dispenses good advice,” the old beggar chimed in.
          He barked a wet cough and spat in a soiled handkerchief. “Forgive
          me, but could you spare a few Afghanis?” he breathed.
              “Bas. Let’s go,” Farid said, pulling me by the arm.
              I handed the old man a hundred thousand Afghanis, or the
          equivalent of about three dollars. When he leaned forward to take
          the money, his stench—like sour milk and feet that hadn’t been
          washed in weeks—flooded my nostrils and made my gorge rise.
          He hurriedly slipped the money in his waist, his lone eye darting
          side to side. “A world of thanks for your benevolence, Agha sahib.”
              “Do you know where the orphanage is in Karteh-Seh?” I said.
              “It’s not hard to find, it’s just west of Darulaman Boulevard,”
          he said. “The children were moved from here to Karteh-Seh after
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