"The mines!" "We are here, brother." "Everyone whos going to the mines!" "Are you going to Mazar?" "Yes." "How much is it?" "Fifty afghani." "Ok, lets go!" "May God be with you." "Brother?" "Yes." "Could you tell me the road to the mines?" "Over this bridge, and the guard on the other side will show you." "Thank you." "No worries." "Grandpa, have the tanks been here too?" "Could you tell me the road to the mines?" "What are you gonna do there?" "I need to go to the mines." "They dont hire more people." "I need to see my son, Morad, son of Dastagir." "Then you'll have to wait for the truck." "When is it comming?" "I dont know?" "In an hour or so." "When its here its here." "Sit down and wait." "Grandpa!" "I'm tired." "Tired." "Come." "Grandpa!" "I'm thirsty." "Yassin!" "Grandpa!" "Grandpa!" "Dont move!" "Grandpa." "Take it easy, my child." "Grandpa!" "I wanna go home." "Give this to your mother." "Where have you been?" "The truck drove off." "You've been waiting for the truck all day, and now you missed it?" "Grandpa!" "I'm thirsty." "What are you waiting for now?" "A truck." "Its only one truck a day." "Maybe there will be another one." "This was all for today!" "Tomorrow." "There wont be another truck today." "You never know." "Suit yourself." "If you wanna hang around here all night, be my guest." "Brother!" "Yes." "Could you tell me the road to Tchel Sarf?" "Do you see that peak?" "The road to Tchel Sarf goes to the left of that." "Thank you." "You want a sip of water?" "No, thanks." "The water brings luck." "Werent you going to the mines?" "It didn't work out." "Tomorrow, if God wants." "Grandpa, let's go home." "Come on." "We're lucky!" "Another gift from God!" "Let's finish this one, and then we'll go and get the next one." "Where are you from?" "From Tchel Sarf." "Grandpa, I'm tired." "I can't go on." "A fairytail, told in so many ways:" "Forty chickens in the house" "I was cooking a pot of soup I gave some to the farmer" "The farmer gave me wheat" "I gave the wheat to the mill The mill gave me flour" "I put the flour in a bowl The bowl gave me dough" "I put the dough in the oven The oven gave me bread." "Amro." "My only hope was to see him." "What happened to him?" "Mahro, come here!" "Ezzat?" "Unckle Rostam?" "I thought you were dead." "Are you alive?" "I'm not Rostam." "I know, I can see that." "You are uncle Amro." "Come here, have som milk, its sweet like breastmilk." "Mahro's coming soon." "In the name of God, leave." "He's only screaming." "I can't calm him down." "Drink your milk, and Mahro will be here." "Did she survive?" "Survive?" "Everything went up in flames." "She is dead." "There is no one left." "And Amro, where is he?" "At the graveyard." "Amro?" "Amro, it's me, Dastagir." "He can't talk." "Don't bother him." "He doesn't understand anything." "He's in shock." "Doesn't she have a shroud?" "No burialcloth, no wash, no prayer." "Where do you think I'm gonna find a shroud?" "Is she your daughter?" "No, neighbour." "The body was laying in from of my door." "She doesn't have anyone left." "Are u related to him?" "Yes." "He buried his dead ones this morning." "Now he's just sitting there, silent." "He doesn't eat, or drink." "Has he lost his whole family?" "Everyone." "Exept one daughter who lives in Abqol." "Her name is Zaynab." "In Abqol?" "There is nothing left there." "The village was burned to the ground." "And who are you?" "Zaynabs father in law." "Did they bomb Abqol, too?" "Completely destroyed." "Like here." "There is no one left." "Did you tell him anything about Zaynab?" "No." "Then dont!" "I dont think he could take it." "He would lose his mind." "I understand." "I'm losing my mind too, I think." "My heart is broken into pieces." "I came to see him, but he's got it worse than me." "Amro." "I share your pain." "May God bless the souls of the dead." "Yassin !" "Zaynab!" "A fairytail, told in so many ways:" "Forty chickens in the house" "Zaynab!" "Dastagir." "Is Zaynab OK?" "Does she know about what happened here?" "I wanted to go to her, but I didn't dare." "What if she ask about the family?" "What I'm I gonna tell her?" "They're all dead." "I have nothing left." "I dont know what to do." "Dastagir, tell me what to do." "I could go to my sister in Kabul." "I couldn't take breaking Zaynabs heart." "Which one of them is him?" "It's Yassin, Zaynabs youngest son." "My, he's grown!" "I didn't recognize him." "Zaynab made this for me." "Don't tell her anything!" "Amro!" "Grandpa, Im done!" "Where are we going now?" "Let's go someplace where theres sound." "Grandpa, Im thirsty." "Im hungry." "Let me eat that." "Stop it, Im eating!" "How's it going?" "We are going to collect the cadavers after the landmines." "You going to the mines?" "No." "But you are headed that way, right?" "If the guard lets us through." "Let us come with you." "We have a job to do." "Do it as a good deed." "You saw how it was yesterday." "We have to stop constantly." "We cant take you with us." "I have a child with me." "Take us with you, as a good deed." "We already took you with us once." "My son works at the mines." "He will pay you when we get there." "We have a job to do." "We might be out there all night." "God will reward you." "Old man, this truck is not going to the mines." "Stop bothering everyone." "Leave them alone." "Your mother shouldnt sit there!" "She's gonna die!" "These tanks killed everyone in our village." "She just wants to sit in the shade." "You talk too much!" "Father!" "What happened to your forehead?" "Morad?" "What are you doing here?" "Did you come to see me?" "Dastagir!" "Tell him that you brought the first apples of this year." "Dont say anything about me." "And not about Za ynab." "Come here." "Dont go, stay!" "Brother." "What is it now, old man?" "Will the truck be here today?" "I swear by the Koran." "How many times do I have to tell you?" "If its not coming, there's no point in waiting." "If its not coming, then thats just the way it is." "Im not a magician." "One day you wait, the next you leave." "Whats the matter with you?" "If it wasn't for the boy, Id be walking there." "You did yesterday, and then you came back." "Its the same story every day." "Go away, dont ruin my day." "Has the people in the mines heard about the destruction in Abqol?" "What do I know?" "Im here." "I dont know what goes on in the mines." "You chewing tobacco?" "No ." "Zaynab?" "What are you doing,Yassin?" "You're driving me crazy !" "Where are you hiding?" "What are you doing on that tanks?" "Yassin, get down from there!" "Grandpa, there's a hedgehog here!" "This boy is driving me crazy!" "There's a baby-hedgehog inside the tanks!" "I dont want it to become mute." "Forget about the hedgehog!" "Get down from there!" "Get down!" "Theres the truck." "we're gonna lose that one too." "I can hear the truck." "we're gonna lose it." "You're driving me crazy!" "The hedgehog!" "Your hedgehog is driving me crazy!" "Let me go." "Inside the tanks." "The hedgehog has a baby." "Where are we going?" "I want to play." "Let me go!" "Open your eyes!" "The kid wont let the old man in peace." "Its been going on for two days already." "Dont play with grandpas beard." "Grandpa, open your eyes." "A little higher." "What are you doing?" "Dont you like it?" "I got it in my mouth." "Where are you going?" "To Ma ymana ." "Wait!" "You back from the mines already?" "We havent left yet." "You got any chewing tobacco?" "Yes." "From Mazar or Matak?" "What village are you from?" "Abqol ." "Here you go." "You can pay double next time ." "Who knows whos alive or not." "Man lives only in hope." "Is it true Abqol has been bombed?" "The news has reached all the way to here?" "Yes, with truck- drivers and soldiers." "Do they know in the mines?" "I dont know." "But news about death spreads fast." "You know anyone in the mines?" "Yes, my son." "I havent heard from him in several days." "Maybe he hasnt heard." "I dont know whats happened to him ." "Grandpa, I want senjed !" "The boy drives me crazy!" "God forbid." "He's just a kid." "He's seen them, and he wants them ." "Lift up your tunic." "Excellent, young man!" "Its not just that he's a child." "He cant hear anymore." "He's become deaf." "May God protect him!" "Why?" "When our village, Aqbol, was bombed, his eardrum bursted." "Come in brother, its hot outside." "Thanks, Id rather wait here and look for the truck." "What truck?" "The truck to ." "You just ran after the truck to Maymana ." "I dont know anymore." "I dont wanna go to the mines." "Was many people killed in Aqbol?" "Not a soul left." "May God forgive them and send them to paradise." "Have some tea." "Thank God you and your grandson are alive." "Death is better than this life." "I wish I had died with them." "Thank God you still have a son and a grandson." "My grandson is deaf." "My son wont handle hearing his mother and his wife is dead." "He wont sit still." "He would rather lose his life than losing his honour." "I dont know how Im gonna tell him." "Im going to wash before prayers." "Im getting some cigarettes from Mirza Qadirs shop." "Evening Hashmat, you armed today?" "Im taking a prisoner to Mazar." "What did he do?" "He killed a man." "Give me four cigarettes." "When did murder become a crime?" "He killed his seargent." "Thats not a man!" "Was he a soldier?" "He was on duty." "It was an attack on his village." "When he saw they shot the villagers, he turned around." "And emptied his gun in his seargents stomach." "Give me some raisins and roasted chick peas." "To eat at work is better than empty talk." "I have a daugher the same age." "May God protect your child." "You want some chewing tobacco?" "What a beautiful box!" "It was a gift from my son." "I had forgotten what I look like." "What village are you from?" "From the graveyard." "Why?" "Once it was a graveyard." "Once it was a graveyard." "I have some senjed for you !" "Where are you going?" "Here's some senjed for you!" "Where are you going?" "To Mazar e Sharif." "The sounds are here." "Yassin, what are you talking about?" "I dont understand." "He says that the tanks has stolen the voices." "I want to find the voices." "They're in here." "Yassin, get out of there!" "It stole grandpa's voice." "Let me find your voice back." "Your voice is trapped inside the tanks." "Your mother's voice too!" "I dont understand a word :" ""your voice is trapped inside the tanks." "God doesnt want me to go to the mines." "God doesnt want me to lose my son." "He's my only son." "He's my only hope in this world." "Im not going." "I'll let him in peace." "Where are you going, Yassin?" "Brother, let him go and play." "Its useless to call on him." "He cant hear." "Its become a habit." "Even if he can hear me or not, he's all I've got." "I only have one grandchild left who can help me forget the grief." "His father will take his own life if he sees his son like this." "I just want to disappear." "I cant bare to meet my son." "Why would you disappear?" "Your son is a grown man." "You have to go and see him." "I cant." "You have to show some compassion." "Try and share his sorrow." "Make him understand, that war is war." "It has its own destiny." "Tell him that his son and his father is alive." "Thats a blessing in itself." "Explain to him that the rules of a war is the same as the rules of sacrifice:" "You either have blood on your hands or on your neck ." "May God protect him from bloody hands." "He will either drown himself in sorrow, or get revenge ." "He will not care about the laws of the war." "Hes not afraid to get blood on his hands." "When he hears his mother and wife is killed, he will want revenge." "Sometime, an idiot who offended his wife, got a smack on the head with a shovel." "Morad was in prison for 4 months for that." "If he finds out his wife was dishonored in public, outside the hammam ." "Careful boy, its carrying goods." "Bfba, you kow the story about Rostam and Sohrab." "The famous battle between Rostam and Sohrab." "Rostam the hero, kills Sohrab without knowing its his son." "For years Ive been wondering:" "If Sohrab had killed his father, would he have been a hero?" "Here, have some melon." "Another question that always bothered me :" "If Rostam didnt lose his son in the battle, would he then give up the war?" "Thousands of others could have died." "Does your ratties make any sound?" "Buy one and find out for yourself." "Can your donkey brag?" "Go away, kid." "Im tired." "Where are you from?" "You're talking all the time." "Mind the donkey, it carries goods." "What is that car doing?" "Its not going to the mines." "It shows up every day at this hour and picks up that woman and her daughter." "Tomorrow they will be back again ." "And the jeep comes and picks them up." "Noone knows what shes doing or what shes waiting for." "Nobody knows her story." "When I think about it" "I can see that in the war the dead are luckier than the ones who are alive." "The war takes a bigger toll from the ones who survives, than by its victims." "My grandpa has got no voice." "He cant yell at me." "But my grandma has got a voice." "Uncle Qader has got a voice too." "And my mother has got a voice." "Grandpa has hidden them under the ground." "Otherwise they would be quiet like you." "In Kabul i knew a respcted man." "One day his son was called out for battle." "When he returned from his service, he was supposed to take over his fathers shop." "But thats not what happened." "The son got the taste of uniforms, weapons, money." "He became a ridiculous officer." "His father didnt approve so he threw him out." "His mother died of a broken heart." "The son accused his father of killing their mother." "The man had no choice." "He left everything." "His life and his shop." "He left Kabul." "Life is full of ups and downs." ""we are like the waves, a quiet sea means death."" "Help your son understand life's ups and downs." "Go away boy, youre hurting my ears." "You dont give me peace for a second." "Yassin !" "Make him look at me!" "Boy, your father is calling for you !" "Go away!" "Youre driving me crazy!" "You wanna know where the voices are?" "Theyre inside the tanks!" "Can your donkey brag?" "Make your donkey brag for me." "Youre so stubborn, kid!" "Arent you listening?" "Go, your father is calling for you." "Grandpa, this man hasnt got a voice." "And not these two donkeys either." "The tanks has stolen their voices." "Is the boy bothering you?" "No brother, he's not bothering me." "Children is my livelyhood, wooden horses and rattles." "Ive got a couple of donkeys and go from one village to the next." "Hey you, boy!" "The donkey doesnt eat grass, just barley." "Eat then." "You wanna go to your mother?" "He doesnt want it." "Thats life brother." "One of my donkeys stepped on a mine in a village." "The other one in another village, the third another place." "I only got four left." "I roam around, make my living and take it home to my family." "But that son of yours is out of control." "He's not listening to anybody!" "The boy cant hear a word." "Hes deaf." "He doesnt realise it himself." "He thinks everybody else has gone mute." "His eardrum was damaged when our village was bombed." "What village was that?" "Abqol." "The boy told me about the mother, and uncle and grandmother that you buried." "May their souls be with God!" "Thats the way life is." "Here, have this rattle." "I've told you that these rattles makes no sound." "Hey boy, stop it!" "Take it easy!" "Someones calling for you." "Youre making too much noise." "Are you doing or not?" "Let's go, little friend." "Take this." "I'll be right back." "The rattle doesnt make any sound!" "Wait a minute, Im just getting my grandchild." "Dont worry, we've got plenty of time." "We've got plenty of time?" "But youre late." "You should go!" "Im always early!" "Check your watch?" "What for?" "What time does it show?" "Its broken." "Go and get your grandchild." "Lets have a smoke." "Youre not going?" "The boy is stubborn, he wont come." "Im so confused." "Im so scared of going to the mines." "If Morad sees his son like this, it will kill him." "Yassin saw everything that happened." "If he starts talking about his mother and grandmother," "Morad will go insane." "I cant make him shut up." "Go alone." "Leave your grandchild with me." "Are you coming or not, old man?" "Whats wrong with you?" "Some mood youre in !" "Wait a minute, for gods sake!" "Dont worry brother." "Go, and teach your son how to live again." "Grandpa!" "Look at me!" "Dont worry, Ive raised four kids." "Go, and come back with your son." "Fateh, the guard, is not a bad man." "Grief has made him hard." "Hes full of bitterness." "Ive known him for years." "The sorrow." "It either melts and streams out of your eyes." "Or, it becomes hard like a sword and shoots out of your mouth." "Or it becomes a ticking bomb and blows your face up one day." "Its like what Mizra Qadir says," "Fatehs sorrow is all three at once." "You know Mirza Qadir well?" "Oh yes, Mirza Qadir lived a honorable life in Kabul." "He was a highly respected man." "He had three daughters and a son." "But then one day, who knows why, he suddenly left everything in Kabul to run this shop here in the middle of the desert." "You going to the mines to work?" "No ." "Im going to see my son." "Im going to stab a sword in his heart." "What are you, some sort of a knight?" "Has people in the mines heard about the bombing of Abqol?" "Abqol has been bombed?" "How much further is it to the mines?" "We're almost there." "You want some chewing tobacco?" "No thanks." "If youre tired, you can take a nap." "Deep breath." "Feel the smell of the mines." "Its the smell of your son." "You see that mountaintop over there?" "When we get there, we're at the mines." "Then youre with your son." "Its all up there." "You can get off here." "Go and talk to the foreman." "Ill go back in a couple of hours." "Meet you by the bridge." "What can I do for you, bfba?" "Ive come to see my son." "Morad, son of Dastagir." "Morad, sønnen til Dastagir?" "Come in." "Youve come a long way." "You must be tired." "Morad works at this time of day." "Hes down at the mine." "When does he finish?" "About six o'clock." "If hes not workingovertime." "Six o'clock?" "I have to leave before that!" "Morad is fine." "A couple of days ago he wasnt so good." "Thank god the news he received, were not true." "Morad knows?" "Yes." "He heard that the war had hit his village." "And that his whole family was killed." "Now I see the whole thing was a lie." "No, it is true." "His wife, mother, nephew and his sister is all gone." "Only his son and myself survived." "May god protect your souls." "May god give your strenght." "Thank God you two are alive." "Im talking about Morad, son of Dastagir, from Abqol ." "Yes, thats who I mean." "Morad knows, but he didnt come home!" "For Gods sake, tell me whats happened to my son!" "Nothing, boba ." "Ive told you he's fine." "Dear foreman !" "Has he been in an accident?" "Is my son alive?" "Dont think silly thoughts like that, bfba !" "Youve seen him today, havent you?" "The foreman is telling the truth, Morad is fine." "We had tea together this morning." "A couple of days ago he was not so well." "He wouldnt eat, he wouldnt drink, and he wouldnt sleep." "He just collapsed in a corner." "His friends said that he one night ran outside naked." "He hit himself while he ran around the bonfire." "They talked some sense into him, and then he went back to work." "Maybe he'll become the mineworker of the year." "If he's alive, he would have come home." "I stopped him." "You dont give them time off when someones died?" "He's young and wild." "He could have gotten himself killed." "Hi, father." "Morad?" "You know?" "Yes, I know." "Im sorry." "Im sorry too." "Goodbye, may God protect you." "You know how it is!" "Youve got more experience with life than the rest of us." "I have to leave." "Ive left my grandchild with someone." "Tell Morad that his dad and his son are alive." "If I see Morad, Ill tell him you were here." "They lied to him." "He thought you were dead too." "Give him this box." "It was a gift from him." "Then he will realize his father was here." "I promise." "If he comes, hes my Morad ." "If not." "Each in their own way" "Theyre breaking my heart" "The stranger in one way" "My friend in another way" "Breaking my heart" "If the stranger hurts me" "Theres nothing I can say" "Except asking my friend:" ""Why" "is he breaking my heart."" "translated by hchamp"