Bod said, “The person who hurt my family. The one who wants to kill me. You are certain that he’s still out there?”
“Yes. He’s still out there.”
“Then, said Bod, and said that the unsayable, “I want to go to school.”
Silas was imperturbable, but now his mouth open and his brow furrowed, and he said only,
“What?”
“I’ve learned a lot in the graveyard. I can Fade and I can Haunt. I can open a ghoul-gate and I know the constellations. But there’sa world out there, with the sea in it, and the islands, and shipwrecks and pigs. And the teachers here have taught me lots of things, but i need more. If I’m going to survive there, one day.”
“Out of the question. Here we can keep you safe, out there? Outside, anything could happen.”
“Yes, “ agreed Bod. “That’s the potential thing you were talking about. Someone killed my mother and my father and my sister.”
“Yes. Someone did.”
“A man?”
“A man.”
“Which means you’re asking the wrong question.”
Silas raised an eyebrow. “How so?”
“Well, if I go outside in the world, the question isn’t who will keep me safe from him?”
“No?”
“No. It’s who will keep him safe from me?”
Showing posts with label quote. Show all posts
Showing posts with label quote. Show all posts
December 20, 2014
January 06, 2014
Amir agha, with my deepest respects. My wife and son and I pray this letter finds you in fine health, and in the light of God's good graces.
I'm hopeful that one day I will hold one of your letters in my hands and read of your life in America. I am trying to learn English. It's such a tricky language. But one day, agha. I miss your stories.
I've included a picture of me and my son, Sohrab. He's a good boy. Rahim Khan and I taught him how to read and write, so he doesn't grow up stupid like his father. And can he shoot with that slingshot you gave me!
But I fear for him, Amir agha. The Afghanistan of our youth is long dead. Kindness is gone from the land, and you cannot escape the killings. Always the killings. I dream that God will guide us to a better day. I dream that my son will grow up to be a good person, a free person, an important person.
I dream that flowers will bloom in the streets of Kabul again, and music will play in the samovar houses, and kites will fly in the skies. And I dream that someday you will return to Kabul to revisit the land of our childhood. If you do, you'll find an old faithful friend waiting for you.
May God be with you always.
Hassan
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