Page 267 - The Kite Runner

256 Khaled Hosseini

him, not a lot, but better than nothing at all.” His shifty eyes fell
on me, rolled away. “Usually he’ll take a girl. But not always.”
“And you allow this?” Farid said behind me. He was going
around the table, closing in on Zaman.
“What choice do I have?” Zaman shot back. He pushed him-
self away from the desk.
“You’re the director here,” Farid said. “Your job is watch over
these children.”
“There’s nothing I can do to stop it.”
“You’re selling children!” Farid barked.
“Farid, sit down! Let it go!” I said. But I was too late. Because
suddenly Farid was leaping over the table. Zaman’s chair went fly-
ing as Farid fell on him and pinned him to the floor. The director
thrashed beneath Farid and made muffled screaming sounds. His
legs kicked a desk drawer free and sheets of paper spilled to the
floor.
I ran around the desk and saw why Zaman’s screaming was
muffled: Farid was strangling him. I grasped Farid’s shoulders
with both hands and pulled hard. He snatched away from me.
“That’s enough!” I barked. But Farid’s face had flushed red, his
lips pulled back in a snarl. “I’m killing him! You can’t stop me! I’m
killing him,” he sneered.
“Get off him!”
“I’m killing him!” Something in his voice told me that if I
didn’t do something quickly I’d witness my first murder.
“The children are watching, Farid. They’re watching,” I said.
His shoulder muscles tightened under my grip and, for a moment,
I thought he’d keep squeezing Zaman’s neck anyway. Then he
turned around, saw the children. They were standing silently by
the door, holding hands, some of them crying. I felt Farid’s mus-