Page 346 - The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner 335

sharks,” he said in perfect English, without a trace of an accent.
“They smell a foreigner, they triple their fares.”
He pushed through the door, all smiles and apologies, wheez-
ing a little and sweating. He wiped his brow with a handkerchief
and opened his briefcase, rummaged in it for a notepad and apolo-
gized for the sheets of paper that spilled on the bed. Sitting cross-
legged on his bed, Sohrab kept one eye on the muted television,
the other on the harried lawyer. I had told him in the morning that
Faisal would be coming and he had nodded, almost asked some-
thing, and had just gone on watching a show with talking animals.
“Here we are,” Faisal said, flipping open a yellow legal
notepad. “I hope my children take after their mother when it
comes to organization. I’m sorry, probably not the sort of thing you
want to hear from your prospective lawyer, heh?” He laughed.
“Well, Raymond Andrews thinks highly of you.”
“Mr. Andrews. Yes, yes. Decent fellow. Actually, he rang me
and told me about you.”
“He did?”
“Oh yes.”
“So you’re familiar with my situation.”
Faisal dabbed at the sweat beads above his lips. “I’m familiar
with the version of the situation you gave Mr. Andrews,” he said. His
cheeks dimpled with a coy smile. He turned to Sohrab. “This must
be the young man who’s causing all the trouble,” he said in Farsi.
“This is Sohrab,” I said. “Sohrab, this is Mr. Faisal, the lawyer
I told you about.”
Sohrab slid down the side of his bed and shook hands with
Omar Faisal. “Salaam alaykum,” he said in a low voice.
“Alaykum salaam, Sohrab,” Faisal said. “Did you know you are
named after a great warrior?”