“What are you doing here?” I said, knowing how utterly¹ foolish the question sounded, yet unable to think of anything else to say.

“你在这里干什么？ ”我说，明知自己这个问题蠢得无以复加，可是想不出有其他可说的。

“Me?” Assef arched an eyebrow² “I’m in my element. The question is what are you doing here?”

“我？”阿塞夫眉毛一扬，“这里是我的地盘，问题是，你在这里干什么？”

“I already told you,” I said. My voice was trembling. I wished it wouldn’t do that, wished my flesh wasn’t shrinking against my bones.

“我已经告诉过你了，”我说，声音颤抖。我希望话不是这么说出口，希望自己没有浑身发抖。

“The boy?”

“这个男孩？”

“Yes.”

“是的。”

“Why?”

“为什么？”

“I’ll pay you for him,” I said. “I can have money wired.”

“我可以为了他付钱给你，”我说， “我可以汇钱给你。”

“Money?” Assef said. He tittered. “Have you ever heard of Rockingham? Western Australia, a slice of heaven. You should see it, miles and miles of beach. Green water, blue skies. My parents live there, in a beachfront villa³. There’s a golf course behind the villa and a little lake. Father plays golf every day. Mother, she prefers tennis--Father says she has a wicked backhand. They own an Afghan restaurant and two jewelry⁴ stores; both businesses are doing spectacularly.” He plucked a red grape. Put it, lovingly, in Sohrab’s mouth. “So if I need money, I’ll have them wire it to me.” He kissed the side of Sohrab’s neck. The boy flinched⁵ a little, closed his eyes again. “Besides, I didn’t fight the Shorawi for money. Didn’t join the Taliban for money either. Do you want to know why I joined them?”My lips had gone dry. I licked them and found my tongue had dried too.

“钱？”阿塞夫说，忍不住狂笑起来。“你听说过洛金汉吗？在澳大利亚西部，天堂般的地方。你应该去看看，沙滩连绵不绝，绿色的海水，蓝色的天空。我父母在那儿，住在海滨别墅里面。别墅后面有高尔夫球场，有个小小的湖泊。爸爸每天打高尔夫球，我妈妈比较喜欢网球——爸爸说她打得很棒。他们开着一家阿富汗餐厅、两间珠宝店，生意非常兴隆。”他拣起一颗葡萄，慈爱地放进索拉博口里。“所以，如果我需要钱，我会让他们汇给我。”他亲吻索拉博脖子的侧边。男孩身子稍微一缩，又闭上双眼。“再说，我跟俄国佬干仗不是为了钱。加入塔利班也不是为了钱。你想知道我为什么加入他们吗？”我嘴唇已经变干了，舔了舔，这才发现舌头也变干了。

“Are you thirsty?” Assef said, smirking⁶.

“你口渴吗？”阿塞夫说，满脸坏笑。

“I think you’re thirsty.”

“不。”

“I’m fine,” I said. The truth was, the room felt too hot suddenly--sweat was bursting from my pores, prickling my skin. And was this really happening? Was I really sitting across from Assef?

“我认为你很渴。”“还好。”我说。事情的真相是，房间突然之间变热了——汗水从我的毛孔冒出来，浸湿我的皮肤。这是真的吗？我真的坐在阿塞夫对面吗？

“As you wish,” he said. “Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, how I joined the Taliban. Well, as you may remember, I wasn’t much of a religious type. But one day I had an epiphany. I had it in jail. Do you want to hear?”

“随便你，”他说，“不管怎么说，我讲到哪里了？哦，对了，我为什么加入塔利班。嗯，也许你还记得，我过去不是那么虔诚。但有一天，我看到真主显灵了，在监狱里看到。你想听吗？”

I said nothing.

我默默无语。