Chapter 22
In January 1989 the last of the Soviets leave the city and everyone watches them go. Laila is standing with her family when Tariq shows up in a huge Russian fur hat. Laila tells him he looks ridiculous. Laila is glad he can feel a little happiness, because ever since his uncle died the fall before and his father had a heart attack, he has been morose. Hasina, Tariq, and Laila eat together in the city that day. When Laila and Tariq go home with Babi and Mammy, a man on the bus says that the new leader, Mohammad Najibullah (1947–96), is a puppet president, not a real Muslim leader. Mammy prays on the bus. That night, Laila and Tariq go to see a movie. It is a Soviet film badly dubbed in Farsi, and they laugh at the stiff sentences that have nothing to do with what is really happening. The woman in the film, named Alyona, is in a love scene, kissing a man, and Tariq says he never wants to get married. Laila thinks about kissing Tariq and what it would be like. Tariq makes a snot joke to relieve the tension, but it is clear that he and Laila are a little uncomfortable after having watched a love scene together.
Chapter 23
In April 1992 Tariq's father, having had three strokes, is weak and unhealthy. Hasina has been married off to the man she feared her parents would force on her, and they have headed for Germany. The Soviet Union is falling apart, and the country of Russia emerges. Najibullah, who had been the puppet president in Afghanistan, claims to be an observant Muslim, but it is too little, too late. He ends up surrendering, and the Mujahideen finally come to Kabul. Mammy knows all of their names and all of the factions they run, but her hero is always Massoud. Mammy finally gets out of bed, opens her curtains, and goes back to her kitchen, rearranging it back to the way she likes it. She decides she will have a party and invites everyone she knows.
B. I knew the rain falling lightly from the clouds would stop.
Here, he says, "once below a time." It sounds like something is buried under time, sort of like what happens when something dies, right? But also, something like treasure that needs to be recovered. And what was happening below this time? The speaker spent his days ruling over the trees and leaves and daisies and barley and rivers, blown by the wind.<span>The gist here is that he felt like a young, powerful, world-at-his-fingertips prince. Things were easy, beautiful, and awesome.</span>
C. Bill raced after the ball and threw it back to Cheryl.
