A pathetic shadow, torn between her envy and thrill of being seen with Masomma, sharing in the attention as a weed would, lapping up water meant for the lily upstream.

You have extreme poverty and high crime and you have to admit that the governance of the Kabul regime has been poor and has been losing its popular legitimacy. You have a corrupt police force, not to mention homelessness, joblessness. The problems are huge.

Nothing good came free. Even love. You paid for all things. And if you were poor, suffering was your currency.

There are a lot of children in Afghanistan, but little childhood.

In the end, the world always wins. That's just the way of things.

You see, some things I can teach you. Some you learn from books. But there are things that, well, you have to see and feel.

The impact had cut your upper lip in two, he had said, clean down the middle. Clean down the middle. Like a harelip.