or Laila, life in Murree is one of comfort and tranquility. The work is not cumbersome,
and, on their days off, she and Tariq take the children to ride the chairlift to Patriata hill,
or go to Pindi Point, where, on a clear day, you can see as far as Islamabad and downtown
Rawalpindi. There, they spread a blanket on the grass and eat meatball sandwiches with
cucumbers and drink cold ginger ale.
It is a good life, Laila tells herself, a life to be thankful for. It is, in fact, precisely the sort
of life she used to dream for herself in her darkest days with Rasheed. Every day, Laila
reminds herself of this.
Then one warm night in July 2002, she and Tariq are lying in bed talking in hushed voices
about all the changes back home. There have been so many. The coalition forces have
driven the Taliban out of every major city, pushed them across the border to Pakistan and to
the mountains in the south and east of Afghanistan. ISAF, an international peacekeeping
force, has been sent to Kabul. The country has an interim president now, Hamid Karzai.
Laila decides that now is the time to tell Tariq.
A year ago, she would have gladly given an arm to get out of Kabul. But in the last few
months, she has found herself missing the city of her childhood. She misses the bustle of
Shor Bazaar, the Gardens of Babur, the call of the water carriers lugging their goatskin bags.
She misses the garment hagglers at Chicken Street and the melon hawkers in Karteh
Parwan.
But it isn't mere homesickness or nostalgia that has Laila thinking of Kabul so much these
days. She has become plagued by restlessness. She hears of schools built in Kabul, roads
repaved, women returning to work, and her life here, pleasant as it is, grateful as she is for
it, seems... insufficient to her. Inconsequential Worse yet, wasteful. Of late, she has started
hearing Babi's voice in her head. You can be anything you want, Laila, he says. I know this
about you. And I also know that when this war is over, Afghanistan is going to need you.
Laila hears Mammy's voice too. She remembers Mammy's response to Babi when he
would suggest that they leave Afghanistan. I want to see my sons' dream come true. I want
to be there when it happens, when Afghanistan is free, so the boys see it too. They'll see it
through my eyes. There is a part of Laila now that wants to return to Kabul, for Mammy
and Babi, for them to see it through her eyes.
And then, most compellingly for Laila, there is Mariam. Did Mariam die for this? Laila
asks herself. Did she sacrifice herself so she, Laila, could be a maid in a foreign land?
Maybe it wouldn't matter to Mariam what Laila did as long as she and the children were
safe and happy. But it matters to Laila. Suddenly, it matters very much.
"I want to go back," she says.
Tariq sits up in bed and looks down at her.