Page 189 - And the Mountains Echoed (novel)

school-yard one-upmanship. Maybe a plea for sympathy. Did he do it to narrow

the gap between them? He didn’t know. Maybe all of these things. Nor did Adel
know why it seemed important that Gholam like him, only that he dimly
understood the reason to be more complicated than the mere fact of his frequent
loneliness and his desire for a friend.
“We moved to Shadbagh because someone tried to kill us in Kabul,” he said.
“A motorcycle pulled up to the house one day and its rider sprayed our house
with bullets. He wasn’t caught. But, thank God, none of us was hurt.”
He didn’t know what reaction he had expected, but it did surprise him that
Gholam had none. Still squinting up at the sun, Gholam said, “Yeah, I know.”

“You know?”
“Your father picks his nose and people hear about it.”
Adel watched him crush the empty cigarette box into a ball and stuff it into
the front pocket of his jeans.
“He does have his enemies, your father,” Gholam sighed.

Adel knew this. Baba jan had explained to him that some of the people who
had fought alongside him against the Soviets in the 1980s had become both
powerful and corrupt. They had lost their way, he said. And because he wouldn’t
join in their criminal schemes, they always tried to undermine him, to pollute his
name by spreading false, hurtful rumors about him. This was why Baba jan
always tried to shield Adel—he didn’t allow newspapers in the house, for
instance, didn’t want Adel watching the news on TV or surfing the Internet.
Gholam leaned in and said, “I also hear he’s quite the farmer.”

Adel shrugged. “You can see for yourself. Just a few acres of orchards. Well,
and the cotton fields in Helmand too, I guess, for the factory.”
Gholam searched Adel’s eyes as a grin slowly spread across his face,
exposing his rotting canine. “Cotton. You’re a piece of work. I don’t know what
to say.”
Adel didn’t really understand this. He got up and bounced the ball. “You can
say, ‘Rematch!’”

“Rematch!”
“Let’s go.”
“Only, this time, I bet you don’t score one goal.”
Now Adel was the one grinning. “Name your bet.”

“That’s easy. The Zidane.”
“And if I win, no, when I win?”
“I were you,” Gholam said, “I wouldn’t worry about that improbability.”