I'm told no one was really surprised when Sanaubar eloped. People"had"raised their eyebrows¹ when Ali, a man who had memorized the Koran, married Sanaubar, a woman nineteen years younger, a beautiful but notoriously unscrupulous woman who lived up to her dishonorable reputation. Like Ali, she was a Shi'a Muslim and an ethnic² Hazara. She was also his first cousin and therefore a natural choice for a spouse³. But beyond those similarities, Ali and Sanaubar had little in common, least of all their respective appearances. While Sanaubar's brilliant green eyes and impish face had, rumor⁴ has it, tempted⁵ countless⁶ men into sin, Ali had a congenital paralysis⁷ of his lower facial muscles, a condition that rendered him unable to smile and left him perpetually grimfaced. It was an odd thing to see the stone-faced Ali happy, or sad, because only his slanted⁸ brown eyes glinted with a smile or welled with sorrow. People say that eyes are windows to the soul. Never was that more true than with Ali, who could only reveal himself through his eyes.

I have heard that Sanaubar's suggestive stride and oscillating hips⁹ sent men to reveries of infidelity. But polio had left Ali with a twisted, atrophied¹⁰ right leg that was sallow skin over bone with little in between except a paper-thin layer of muscle. I remember one day, when I was eight, Ali was taking me to the bazaar¹¹ to buy some "naan". I was walking behind him, humming, trying to imitate his walk. I watched him swing his scraggy leg in a sweeping¹² arc, watched his whole body tilt¹³ impossibly to the right every time he planted that foot. It seemed a minor¹⁴ miracle he didn't tip over with each step. When I tried it, I almost fell into the gutter¹⁵. That got me giggling¹⁶. Ali turned around, caught me aping him. He didn't say anything. Not then, not ever. He just kept walking.

Ali's face and his walk frightened some of the younger children in the neighborhood. But the real trouble was with the older kids. They chased him on the street, and mocked him when he hobbled by. Some had taken to calling him "Babalu", or Boogeyman.

"Hey, Babalu, who did you eat today?" they barked to a chorus of laughter. "Who did you eat, you flat-nosed Babalu?"

据说莎娜芭抛家弃子的时候，没有人感到奇怪。熟背《可兰经》的阿里娶了比他年轻19岁的莎娜芭，这个女人美貌动人，可是不洁身自爱，向来声名狼藉。人们对这桩婚事大皱眉头。跟阿里一样，她也是什叶派穆斯林伊斯兰教分为逊尼（Sunni）和什叶（Shi a）两大派系。两派的分别主要在于对于穆罕默德继承人的合法性的承认上。按什叶派的观点，只有阿里及其直系后裔才是合法的继承人，而逊尼派承认艾布·伯克尔、欧麦尔、奥斯曼、阿里四大哈里发的合法性，也是哈扎拉（Hazara，阿富汗民族，主要分布在该国中部省份）族人。她还是他的第一个堂妹，因而他们天生就应该是一对。但除了这些，至少在他们的外表上，阿里和莎娜芭毫无共同之处。风传莎娜芭那善睐的绿眼珠和俏皮的脸蛋曾诱得无数男人自甘堕落，阿里的半边脸罹患先天麻痹，因此他无法微笑，总是一副阴骘的脸色。要判断石头脸的阿里究竟高兴还是难过可不是容易的事情，因为只有从他眯斜的棕色眼睛，才能判断其中是欢乐的闪烁，还是哀伤的涌动。人们说眼睛是心灵的窗口，用在阿里身上再贴切不过，他只能在眼神中透露自己。

我听说莎娜芭步履款款，双臀摇摆，那诱人的身姿令众多男人跟他们的爱人同床异梦。但阿里得过小儿麻痹症，右腿萎缩，菜色的皮肤包着骨头，夹着一层薄如纸的肌肉。我记得八岁那年，有一天阿里带我到市场去买馕饼（Naan，阿富汗日常主食，将面团抹在烤炉上烘焙而成）。我走在他后面，嘴里念念有词，学着他走路的样子。我看见他提起那条嶙峋的右腿，摇晃着划出一道弧形；看见他那条腿每次踏下，身体不由自主地往右边倾低。他这样蹒跚前进而又能不摔倒，不能不说是个小小的奇迹。我学着他走路，差点摔进水沟，忍不住咯咯笑起来。阿里转过身，看到我正学着他。他什么也没说。当时没说，以后也一直没说，他只是继续走。

阿里的脸庞和步伐吓坏了某些邻居的小孩。但真正麻烦的是那些较大的少年。每逢他走过，他们总在街道上追逐他，作弄他。有些管他叫“巴巴鲁”，也就是专吃小孩的恶魔。“喂，巴巴鲁，今天你吃了谁啊？”他们一起欢乐地叫喊，“你吃了谁啊，塌鼻子巴巴鲁？”