Then I was screaming, and everything was color and sound, everything was alive and good. I was throwing my free arm around Hassan and we were hopping¹ up and down, both of us laughing, both of us weeping. "You won, Amir agha! You won!"

然后我高声尖叫，一切都是那么色彩斑斓、那么悦耳动听，一切都是那么鲜活、那么美好。我伸出空手抱着哈桑，我们跳上跳下，我们两个都笑着、哭着。"你赢了，阿米尔少爷!你赢了!"

"We won! We won!" was all I could say. This wasn't happening. In a moment, I'd blink and rouse from this beautiful dream, get out of bed, march down to the kitchen to eat breakfast with no one to talk to but Hassan. Get dressed. Wait for Baba. Give up. Back to my old life. Then I saw Baba on our roof. He was standing² on the edge, pumping both of his fists. Hollering and clapping. And that right there was the single greatest moment of my twelve years of life, seeing Baba on that roof, proud of me at last.

"我们赢了!我们赢了!"我只说出这句话。这是真的吗?在过去的日子里，我眨眨眼，从美梦中醒来，起床，下楼到厨房去吃早餐，除了哈桑没人跟我说话。穿好衣服。等爸爸。放弃。回到我原来的生活。然后我看到爸爸在我们的屋顶上，他站在屋顶边缘，双拳挥舞，高声欢呼，拍掌称快。就在那儿，我体验到有生以来最棒的一刻，看见爸爸站在屋顶上，终于以我为荣。

But he was doing something now, motioning with his hands in an urgent way. Then I understood. "Hassan, we--"

但他似乎在做别的事情，双手焦急地摇动。于是我明白了，"哈桑，我们……"

"I know," he said, breaking our embrace. "Inshallah, we'll celebrate later. Right now, I'm going to run that blue kite for you," he said. He dropped the spool³ and took off running, the hem⁴ of his green chapan dragging in the snow behind him.

"我知道，"他从我们的拥抱中挣脱，"安拉保佑，我们等会再庆祝吧。现在，我要去帮你追那只蓝风筝。"他放下卷轴，撒腿就跑，他穿的那件绿色长袍的后褶边拖在雪地上。

"Hassan!" I called. "Come back with it!"

"哈桑!"我大喊，"把它带回来!"

He was already turning the street corner, his rubber boots kicking up snow. He stopped, turned. He cupped his hands around his mouth. "For you a thousand times over!" he said. Then he smiled his Hassan smile and disappeared around the corner. The next time I saw him smile unabashedly like that was twenty-six years later, in a faded Polaroid photograph.

他的橡胶靴子踢起阵阵雪花，已经飞奔到街道的拐角处。他停下来，转身，双手放在嘴边，说:"为你，千千万万遍!"然后露出一脸哈桑式的微笑，消失在街角之后。再一次看到他笑得如此灿烂，已是二十六年之后，在一张褪色的宝丽莱照片上。

I began to pull my kite back as people rushed to congratulate me. I shook hands with them, said my thanks. The younger kids looked at me with an awestruck twinkle in their eyes; I was a hero. Hands patted my back and tousled my hair. I pulled on the string and returned every smile, but my mind was on the blue kite.

人群涌上来向我道贺，我开始把风筝收回来。我跟他们握手，向他们道谢。那些比我更小的孩童望着我的眼神充满敬畏，我是个英雄。人们伸手拍拍我的后背，摸摸我的头发。我边拉着线，边朝每个人微笑，但我的心思在那个蓝风筝上。

Finally, I had my kite in hand. I wrapped the loose string that had collected at my feet around the spool, shook a few more hands, and trotted⁵ Home. When I reached the wrought-iron gates, Ali was waiting on the other side. He stuck his hand through the bars. "Congratulations," he said.

最后，我收回了自己的风筝。我捡起脚下的卷轴，把松弛的线收好，期间又握了几双手，接着走回家。走到那扇锻铁大门时，阿里在门后等着，他从栅栏伸出手，"恭喜。"

I gave him my kite and spool, shook his hand. "Tashakor, Ali jan."

我把风筝和卷轴给他，握握他的手,"谢谢你，亲爱的阿里。"

"I was praying for you the whole time."

"我一直为你祈祷。"

"Then keep praying. We're not done yet."

"继续祈祷吧，我们还没全赢呢。"