Laila
aila sat across from Abdul Sharif, who was a thin, small headed man with a bulbous
nose pocked with the same cratered scars that pitted his cheeks. His hair, short and
brown, stood on his scalp like needles in a pincushion.
"You'll have to forgive me, hamshira," he said, adjusting his loose collar and dabbing at
his brow with a handkerchief "I still haven't quite recovered, I fear. Five more days of these,
what are they called...sulfa pills."
Laila positioned herself in her seat so that her right ear, the good one, was closest to him.
"Were you a friend of my parents?"
"No, no," Abdul Sharif said quickly. "Forgive me." He raised a finger, took a long sip of
the water that Mariam had placed in front of him.
"I should begin at the beginning, I suppose." He dabbed at his lips, again at his brow. "I
am a businessman. I own clothing stores, mostly men's clothing. Chapans, hats, tumbans,
suits, ties you name it. Two stores here in Kabul, in Taimani and Shar-e-Nau, though I just
sold those. And two in Pakistan, in Peshawar. That's where my warehouse is as well. So I
travel a lot, back and forth. Which, these days" he shook his head and chuckled tiredly "let's
just say that it's an adventure.
"I was in Peshawar recently, on business, taking orders, going over inventory, that sort of
thing. Also to visit my family. We have three daughters, alhamdulellah. I moved them and
my wife to Peshawar after the Mujahideen began going at each other's throats. I won't have
their names added to the shaheed list. Nor mine, to be honest. I'll be joining them there very
soon, inshallah.
"Anyway, I was supposed to be back in Kabul the Wednesday before last. But, as luck
would have it, I came down with an illness. I won't bother you with it, hamshira, suffice it
to say that when I went to do my private business, the simpler of the two, it felt like passing
chunks of broken glass. I wouldn't wish it on Hekmatyar himself. My wife, Nadia jan,
Allah bless her, she begged me to see a doctor. But I thought I'd beat it with aspirin and a
lot of water. Nadia jan insisted and I said no, back and forth we went. You know the saying
A stubborn ass needs a stubborn driver. This time, I'm afraid, the ass won. That would be
me."
He drank the rest of this water and extended the glass to Mariam. "If it's not too much
zahmat."
Mariam took the glass and went to fill it.
"Needless to say, I should have listened to her. She's always been the more sensible one,
God give her a long life. By the time I made it to the hospital, I was burning with a fever
and shaking like abeid tree in the wind. I could barely stand. The doctor said I had blood
poisoning. She said two or three more days and I would have made my wife a widow.
"They put me in a special unit, reserved for really sick people, I suppose. Oh, iashakor."
He took the glass from Mariam and from his coat pocket produced a large white pill. "The
size of these things."
Laila watched him swallow his pill She was aware that her breathing had quickened Her