Page 341 - The Kite Runner

330 Khaled Hosseini

“There’s a long answer and I’m sure I’ll end up giving it to you.
You want the short one first?”
“I guess,” I said.
Andrews crushed his cigarette, his lips pursed. “Give it up.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Your petition to adopt this young fellow. Give it up. That’s my
advice to you.”
“Duly noted,” I said. “Now, perhaps you’ll tell me why.”
“That means you want the long answer,” he said, his voice
impassive, not reacting at all to my curt tone. He pressed his
hands palm to palm, as if he were kneeling before the Virgin
Mary. “Let’s assume the story you gave me is true, though I’d bet
my pension a good deal of it is either fabricated or omitted. Not
that I care, mind you. You’re here, he’s here, that’s all that mat-
ters. Even so, your petition faces significant obstacles, not the
least of which is that this child is not an orphan.”
“Of course he is.”
“Not legally he isn’t.”
“His parents were executed in the street. The neighbors saw
it,” I said, glad we were speaking in English.
“You have death certificates?”
“Death certificates? This is Afghanistan we’re talking about.
Most people there don’t have birth certificates.”
His glassy eyes didn’t so much as blink. “I don’t make the laws,
sir. Your outrage notwithstanding, you still need to prove the par-
ents are deceased. The boy has to be declared a legal orphan.”
“But—”
“You wanted the long answer and I’m giving it to you. Your
next problem is that you need the cooperation of the child’s coun-
try of origin. Now, that’s difficult under the best of circumstances,
and, to quote you, this is Afghanistan we’re talking about. We