Farid and Amir began to drive from Jalalabad to Kabul. The last time that Amir was there when his Baba almost got himself killed. Amir remembered how scared, mad, and proud he was that night. Everything was different. It was not how Amir remembered it to be. As they were driving Farid pointed out different villages where he had known people years before. But most of those people were either dead or in refugee camps in Pakistan. Farid claimed that the dead are luckier. As they were driving, everywhere Amir looked, he saw dirt and beggars. But that was not a new site, there were beggars in the past days. Baba would always give them Afghani bills, he never denied them. In present day Kabul, the beggars were mostly children around the ages of five and six. They sat in the laps of their burqa covered mothers. Mostly none of them sat with an adult male-the wars had made fathers a rare part in Afghanistan. Amir constantly asked Farid questions, such as why the trees were chopped down. That was because people needed them for firewood in the winter and snipers used to hide in them.
As they were trying to find the orphanage where Hassan's son, Sohrab was at, they saw an old beggar. He started talking to the man and found out that he used to teach at a university, the same university Amir's mom taught at. The man asked who his mother was and instantly remembered her. Amir was glad to know that he had known his mother. There was still so much he wanted to learn about her. He did not learn too much, but he did learn that she liked almond cake with honey and hot tea and that she was worried about her happiness.
They found the orphanage that they were told to look for to get Sohrab. When they got there a man named Zaman greeted them. At first he was hesitant to let them him. But then Amir started saying that he knew his mother and father, that he was great with the slingshot, and that he was his half uncle, he then let them in. When they told Zaman who they were looking for, he had bad news. Every month or so a man comes to the orphanage and buys one of the kids. Zaman never gave up the offer because he needed the money to provide for the kids in the orphanage. The last time the man came, he chose to take Sohrab. Farid got so angry, he statred to choke Zaman to death, he said he was going to kill him. He intended to. But Amir told him the children were watching, so he stopped. Zaman told them where they can find the man. Told them to be at the Ghazi Stadium the next day. They did just that.
I know that I have been reading this book slow, but I like it that way. I guess I do not want to finish it because I do not think any other book would catch my interest like how A Thousand Splendid Suns and this book did. Anyways, I feel so terrible for Amir. He had to take in a lot of terrible news in one day and now he has to go looking for his nephew. He knows that it is going to be a hard fight to get Sohrab back from a man that bought him. Hopefully he will not be a coward like how he was when he was younger.
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