And the Mountains Echoed

son.”
    Adel nodded. “I was proud today. I was proud of you.”
    Baba jan lowered the weight of his big hand on Adel’s knee. “Thank you, Adel. I appreciate that. But I take you to these things so you learn, so you understand that it’s important for the fortunate, for people like us, to live up to their responsibilities.”
    â€œI just wish you didn’t have to leave all the time.”
    â€œMe too, son. Me too. But I’m not leaving until tomorrow. I’ll be home later in the evening.”
    Adel nodded, casting his gaze down at his hands.
    â€œLook,” his father said in a soft voice, “the people in this town, they need me, Adel. They need my help to have a home and find work and make a livelihood. Kabul has its own problems. It can’thelp them. So if I don’t, no one else will. Then these people would suffer.”
    â€œI know that,” Adel muttered.
    Baba jan squeezed his knee gently. “You miss Kabul, I know, and your friends. It’s been a hard adjustment here, for both you and your mother. And I know that I’m always off traveling and going to meetings and that a lot of people have demands on my time. But … Look at me, son.”
    Adel raised his eyes to meet Baba jan’s. They shone at him kindly from beneath the canopy of his bushy brows.
    â€œNo one on this earth matters to me more than you, Adel. You are my son. I would gladly give up all of this for you. I would give up my life for you, son.”
    Adel nodded, his eyes watering a little. Sometimes, when Baba jan spoke like this, Adel felt his heart swell and swell until he found it hard to draw a breath.
    â€œDo you understand me?”
    â€œYes, Baba jan.”
    â€œDo you believe me?”
    â€œI do.”
    â€œGood. Then give your father a kiss.”
    Adel threw his arms around Baba jan’s neck and his father held him tightly and patiently. Adel remembered when he was little, when he would tap his father on the shoulder in the middle of the night still shaking from a nightmare, and his father would push back his blanket and let him climb into bed, folding him in and kissing the crown of his head until Adel stopped shivering and slipped back into sleep.
    â€œMaybe I’ll bring you a little something from Helmand,” Baba jan said.
    â€œYou don’t have to,” Adel said, his voice muffled. He already had more toys than he knew what to do with. And there wasn’t a toy on earth that could make up for his father’s absence.
    Late that day, Adel perched midstairway and spied on the scene unfolding below him. The doorbell had rung and Kabir had answered. Now Kabir was leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed, blocking the entrance, as he spoke to the person on the other side. It was the old man from earlier at the school, Adel saw, the bespectacled man with the burnt-match teeth. The boy with the holes in his shoes was there too, standing beside him.
    The old man said, “Where has he gone to?”
    Kabir said, “Business. In the south.”
    â€œI heard he was leaving tomorrow.”
    Kabir shrugged.
    â€œHow long will he be gone?”
    â€œTwo, maybe three months. Who’s to say.”
    â€œThat’s not what I heard.”
    â€œNow you’re testing my patience, old man,” Kabir said, uncrossing his arms.
    â€œI’ll wait for him.”
    â€œNot here, you won’t.”
    â€œOver by the road, I meant.”
    Kabir shifted impatiently on his feet. “Suit yourself,” he said. “But the commander is a busy man. No telling when he’ll be back.”
    The old man nodded and backed away, the boy following him.
    Kabir shut the door.
    Adel pulled the curtain in the family room and out the windowwatched the old man and the boy walking up the unpaved road that connected the compound to the main road.
    â€œYou lied to him,” Adel said.
    â€œIt’s part of what I’m paid to do: protect your father from buzzards.”
    â€œWhat does he want anyway, a job?”
    â€œSomething like that.”
    Kabir moved to the couch and removed his shoes. He looked up at Adel and gave him a wink. Adel liked Kabir, far more than Azmaray, who was unpleasant and rarely said a word to him. Kabir played cards with Adel and invited him to watch DVDs together. Kabir loved movies. He owned a collection that he had bought on the black market and watched ten to twelve movies a