Page 330 - The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner 319

said. “I guess you figured that out that from the conversation he
and I had. He . . . he tried to hurt me once when I was your age,
but your father saved me. Your father was very brave and he was
always rescuing me from trouble, standing up for me. So one day
the bad man hurt your father instead. He hurt him in a very bad
way, and I ...I couldn’t save your father the way he had saved me.”
“Why did people want to hurt my father?” Sohrab said in a
wheezy little voice. “He was never mean to anyone.”
“You’re right. Your father was a good man. But that’s what I’m
trying to tell you, Sohrab jan. That there are bad people in this
world, and sometimes bad people stay bad. Sometimes you have to
stand up to them. What you did to that man is what I should have
done to him all those years ago. You gave him what he deserved,
and he deserved even more.”
“Do you think Father is disappointed in me?”
“I know he’s not,” I said. “You saved my life in Kabul. I know
he is very proud of you for that.”
He wiped his face with the sleeve of his shirt. It burst a bub-
ble of spittle that had formed on his lips. He buried his face in his
hands and wept a long time before he spoke again. “I miss Father,
and Mother too,” he croaked. “And I miss Sasa and Rahim Khan
sahib. But sometimes I’m glad they’re not . . . they’re not here
anymore.”
“Why?” I touched his arm. He drew back.
“Because—” he said, gasping and hitching between sobs,
“because I don’t want them to see me . . . I’m so dirty.” He sucked
in his breath and let it out in a long, wheezy cry. “I’m so dirty and
full of sin.”
“You’re not dirty, Sohrab,” I said.
“Those men—”
“You’re not dirty at all.”