Page 170 - And the Mountains Echoed (novel)

refugees from Darfur. Pari knows this because Thierry is in sporadic touch with

Isabelle. She is the only one he speaks to. This is how Pari knows the general
outlines of her son’s life—for instance, that he spent some time in Vietnam. Or
that he was married to a Vietnamese woman once, briefly, when he was twenty.
Isabelle sets a pot of water on to boil and fetches two cups from the cabinet.
“Not this morning, Isabelle. Actually, I need to ask you to leave.”
Isabelle gives her a wounded look, and Pari chides herself for not wording it
better. Isabelle has always had a delicate nature.

“What I mean to say is, I’m expecting a call and I need some privacy.”
“A call? From who?”
“I’ll tell you later,” Pari says.
Isabelle crosses her arms and grins. “Have you found a lover, Maman?”

“A lover. Are you blind? Have you even looked at me recently?”
“There is not a thing wrong with you.”
“You need to go. I’ll explain later, I promise.”
“D’accord, d’accord.” Isabelle slings her purse over her shoulder, grabs her
coat and keys. “But I’ll have you know I’m duly intrigued.”

The man who calls at 9:30 A.M. is named Markos Varvaris. He had contacted
Pari through her Facebook account with this message, written in English: Are
you the daughter of the poet Nila Wahdati? If so, I would like very much to
speak with you about something that will be of interest to you. Pari had searched
the web for his name and found that he was a plastic surgeon who worked for a
nonprofit organization in Kabul. Now, on the phone, he greets her in Farsi, and
continues to speak in Farsi until Pari has to interrupt him.
“Monsieur Varvaris, I’m sorry, but maybe we speak in English?”

“Ah, of course. My apologies. I assumed … Although, of course, it does
make sense, you left when you were very young, didn’t you?”
“Yes, that is true.”
“I learned Farsi here myself. I would say I am more or less functional in it. I
have lived here since 2002, since shortly after the Taliban left. Quite optimistic
days, those. Yes, everybody ready for rebuilding and democracy and the like.
Now it is a different story. Naturally, we are preparing for presidential elections,
but it is a different story. I’m afraid it is.”

Pari listens patiently as Markos Varvaris makes protracted detours into the
logistical challenge that are the elections in Afghanistan, which he says Karzai
will win, and then on to the Taliban’s troubling forays into the north, the
increasing Islamist infringement on news media, a side note or two on the