“I want you to go to KabuL I want you to bring Sohrab here,” he said.I struggled to find the right words. I’d barely had time to deal with the fact that Hassan was dead.“Please hear me. I know an American pair here in Peshawar, a husband and wife named Thomas and Betty Caldwell. They are Christians and they run a small charity organization that they manage with private donations. Mostly they house and feed Afghan children who have lost their parents. I have seen the place. It’s clean and safe, the children are well cared for, and Mr. and Mrs. Caldwell are kind people. They have already told me that Sohrab would be welcome to their home and--”
“Rahim Khan, you can’t be serious.” “Children are fragile, Amir Jan. Kabul is already full of broken children and I don’t want Sohrab to become another.”“Rahim Khan, I don’t want to go to Kabul. I can’t!” I said.
“Sohrab is a gifted little boy. We can give him a new life here, new hope, with people who would love him. Thomas agha is agood man and Betty khanum is so kind, you should see how she treats those orphans.”“Why me? Why can’t you pay someone here to go? I’ll pay for it if it’s a matter of money.”“It isn’t about money, Amir!” Rahim Khan roared. “I’m a dying man and I will not be insulted! It has never been about money with me, you know that. And why you? I think we both know why it has to be you, don’t we?”I didn’t want to understand that comment, but I did. I understood it all too well. “I have a wife in America, a home, a career, and a family. Kabul is a dangerous place, you know that, and you’d have me risk everything for...“ I stopped.
“You know,” Rahim Khan said, “one time, when you weren’t around, your father and I were talking. And you know how he always worried about you in those days. I remember he said to me, ‘Rahim, a boy who won’t stand up for himself becomes a man who can’t stand up to anything.’ I wonder, is that what you’ve become?”I dropped my eyes.
“我要你到喀布尔去，我要你把索拉博带到这里。”他说。我搜肠刮肚，寻找恰当的词汇。我还来不及接受哈桑已然死去的事实。 “请听我说。我认识一对在白沙瓦的夫妇，丈夫叫约翰，妻子叫贝蒂?卡尔德威。他们是基督徒，利用私人募捐来的钱，开设了一个小小的慈善机构。他们主要收容和抚养失去双亲的阿富汗儿童。那儿又干净又安全，儿童得到很好的照料，卡尔德威先生和太太都是好人。他们已经告诉我，欢迎索拉博到他们家去，而且……”
“拉辛汗，你不是说真的吧？”“儿童都很脆弱，亲爱的阿米尔。喀布尔已经有太多身心残缺的孩子，我不希望索拉博也变成其中之一。”“拉辛汗，我不想去喀布尔，我不能去！”我说。
“索拉博是个有天分的小男孩。在这里我们可以给他新的生活、新的希望，这里的人们会爱护他。约翰老爷是个善良的人，贝蒂太太为人和善，你应该去看看她如何照料那些孤儿。”“为什么是我？你干吗不花钱请人去呢？如果是因为经济问题，我愿意出钱。”“那和钱没有关系，阿米尔！”拉辛汗大怒，“我是个快死的人了，我不想被侮辱！在我身上，从来没有钱的问题，你知道的。至于为什么是你？我想我们都知道，为什么一定要你去，是吗？”我不想明白他话中的机锋，但是我清楚，我太清楚了。“我在美国有妻子、有房子、有事业、有家庭。喀布尔是个危险的地方，你知道的，你要我冒着失去一切的危险，就为了……”我停住不说。
“你知道吗，”拉辛汗说，“有一次，你不在的时候，你爸爸和我在说话。而你知道他在那些日子里最担心的是什么。我记得他对我说，‘拉辛，一个不能为自己挺身而出的孩子，长大之后只能是个懦夫。’我在想，难道你变成这种人了吗？”我垂下眼光。