MOTHER AND SON embraced in an open lush field of a mansion during the spring of 1979 as Soviet helicopters hoover over Kandahar, Afghanistan.

One of the maids yells out from the balcony of the three-floor, fifty bedroom marble building, “dinner’s ready.” No reply from the mother, she continues to hold her little boy in her arms. “Moore jaan! Dinner’s ready!” “Thank you. Please fetch the girls too,” replies Moore.

The mother gets up as the five-year-old boy continues to lie there, staring up at the military planes up in the sky flying over their house. In the distance, two girls, a seven-year-old and an eleven-year-old are chased by a seventeen-year. All three sisters run into the house.

“Lets go, Khalid jaan.” The mother gets back down and begins to tickle the little boy. The boy begins to laugh. “Wait, wanna show you something,” mumbles Khalid.

“Later. You’ve been watching them for over a month now. Lets go.”

“No. Let me show you,” says Khalid. She goes back down and lies next to him.

“You see, I can shoot anyone of those down with my slingshot here,” states Khalid as Soviet helicopters and fighter jets wiz by. He puts a rock in the slingshot and points it right up at the sky, closing one eye. “You know I can, right?”

“Yes, you’re very powerful Khalid jaan.”

“But why would I?”

“Cause they’re the bad guys, that’s why.”

“It doesn’t matter, they’re people, just like us.”

“They’re here to take our home and everything we have.”

“Maybe we should give it to them, they might need it more then we do.”

The maid calls again, “Moore Jaan! We’re all waiting on you.”

The mother gets up and holds her hand out to him. “Come on.”

Just as Khalid is about to grab his mom’s hand, an explosion occurs in the distance as Soviet military vehicles drive by the front gate. The boy jumps and runs towards the front of the house.

“No!” yells Moore, running after him.

Khalid runs up to a gigantic gate at the front of the house. The boy looks about at Soviet military tanks and hummers rolling by, followed by foot soldiers. The tanks and soldiers halt.  A perturbed, tall and heavy set, with the persona of Stalin paces back and fourth commanding the soldiers in Russian. He is the captain of the squad. Two soldiers from the line of soldiers, both strong and built, Slavic looking, end up right in front of the gate within several feet from Khalid.

“Who is that? Is that your boss?” yells out Khalid to the two soldiers in Pashtu. The soldiers continue to look on, ignoring the boy. The captain walks by again, yelling, “the mujahedin forces are gaining up.  Stay put till we can move further.”

“Hey, I want to know if that is your boss? He looks nasty and mean. Why do you work for him?”

The mother finally arrives, interjecting, “they don’t understand you Khalid jaan—and why are you talking to them? Lets go.”

As they turn around to walk back, one of the soldiers replies in Dari, “Salaam, Khalid jaan.”

“How, do, you — .”

“I’m from Uzbekistan.”

“What is he saying Moore?”

“Sorry, he doesn’t understand Dari.”

“Neither does he, this is Sasha, and I’m Dimitri.”

The captain comes back. The soldiers quickly turn about face.  The captain comes close to the gate. “Come on, let’s go Khalid jaan,” says the mother. “I’m Khalid,” yells out the little boy, moving side to side. The captain comes close to the gate and blocks his view from seeing Dimitri. He keels down, looks Khalid in the eyes and speaks to him in Russian, “cute little kid. Huge castle to run around in, and what a beautiful and classy mother you’ve got there. I bet your dad loves you all. Not mention how he must love your pretty mama there. Well, guess what? It’ll all be over soon little boy.”

“I don’t understand you. You’re not the boss of anyone. You should go home!”

“Come on Khalid jaan, let’s go.” The mother pulls him by the hand.

“No! Hey, tell him, that he’s the boss of no one, tell him, tell him!” Moore yanks on Khalid’s hand. The captain walks away. Dimitri and Sasha stand there rigid.

 “Go home, you nasty, mean man!” The tanks begin to roll by having the soldiers to march on.

 

Antique furniture fills the dinning room with European and Afghan artifacts decorated throughout. The father, tall, slender, long hair, sophisticated and really handsome sits at the head of the table while Sahar, the seventeen-year-old, flawlessly beautiful, fair skin, blond hair, mesmerizing blue eyes and voluptuous sits to the side. The two girls sit next to their grandma opposite Sahar while the grandpa sits at the other head of the table. All wait patiently for Khalid and Moore.

“Will you be happy?” Asks Baba.

“Yes Baba jaan,” replies Sahar.

“You’ve known Muhib jaan since childhood. You’ll have to marry someone else if not him. Your cousin’s family is well respected.”

Intermittent sounds of explosions, guns shots, military planes flying by continue to blast through the windows. Moore and Khalid walk into the room.

“Khalid jaan. This will be your last time. Next time no supper.” Khalid looks down and sheepishly walks over to the table. They begin to eat.

Kandahar Military Base is pitch black, but Soviet tanks keep rolling in. The entire base is under siege. The captain is lead towards a hummer by a charismatic and well-structured commander who is of higher authority. The captain takes orders from the commander, continues to agree as they both approach the military vehicle. Dimitri and Sasha wait for the captain inside the hummer.

“They’ll go with you. Evacuate every single house in this vicinity.”

“Yes sir,” replies the captain, standing there.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Get going!”

“At this hour, sir?”

“Get them out now! The Mujahedeen are going to attack before sunrise, they’re savages, they don’t value civilian lives.”

The captain gestures in agreement and gets into the military vehicle.

A guard stands in front of Khalid’s home.  The call of prayer echoes through out the entire neighborhood. “Allah ‘O Akbar! Allah ‘O Akbar!” The guard goes into his booth and fetches his prayer rug. He lays it out on the ground and begins to pray.  As soon as the call of prayer is over, gunshots begin to fire rapidly, “dak-dak-dak-dak-dak-dak!”, followed by huge explosions, “BOOM! BOOM! KA-BOOM!”

Dimitri and Sasha come up to the guard, stand there and watch him pray. Sasha lights a cigarette. The guard finishes praying. “Do you understand Dari, or only Pashto,” asks Dimitri in Dari. “I speak both,” he replies in Dari.

“Everyone needs to evacuate.”

“They’re all sleeping.”

“Their lives are in danger, every house around the military base must be evacuated.”

“I’m sorry, but I must follow orders. I cannot disturb their peace.”

Sasha intervenes, “either get them out, or we’ll have to do it by force,” demanding in Russian. Dimitri steps in between them, “the base will be attacked by mid-day, this is for their well being.” The guard walks over to the center of the gate and stands right in front of it. “I’m a loyal Pashtun! My honor is to protect this family. I will not let you through this gate!”

The captain comes out of a mansion from across the street and walks towards the commotion.

“I guess we’ll let the captain deal with you brother,” says Dimitri kindly in Dari.

“What’s going on here?” demands the captain in Russian.

“He’s just being what he is, he says, ‘a Pashtun filled with pride and dignity.”

“Sasha! Go bring the hummer.”

Khalid’s grandparents, both sitting on a prayer rug facing mecca, grandfather in front and grandmother in back, pray. A loud noise emanates from outside. The grandfather turns his head to the right, “asalaam walaykum, wa rahmatullah hi wa barakatu,” and does the same as he turns to his left shoulder. He quickly gets up, opens the room’s door leading him to the balcony. He sees the front gate knocked down as the hummer approaches the front of the building. The vehicle drives right up to the front of the building.

Both soldiers come out of the hummer. The father and grandpa run out of the front door. Khalid runs out as well, walks over to his grandfather and hides behind his leg.

“Sir, you must evacuate immediately. Sorry about the gate, but your guard there —,” says Dimitri to Baba, before getting distracted by Khalid smiling at him. “I like this car better, the tanks looked too heavy,” says Khalid to him.

“Shush,” turns Baba to Khalid and than turning back to Dimitri, “what would you like us to do?”

“You and your family need to evacuate immediately and stay at a relatives for a few days. This is a war zone now!” The father nods, turns around and leads the grandpa and little boy into the house.

The captain walks down a rose garden, crosses over a little handcrafted wooden bridge that has a stream flowing under it, passes under a gazebo with grape vines decorating it, continues on till he sees the marvelous marble building from afar with the hummer standing right in front of it.

Baba and the grandfather come out with suite cases. “My wife and the kids are grabbing all their sentimental belongings. It’ll be a few minutes,” says Baba to Dimitri. The captain walks up to all the men and begins to yell at the top of his lungs. “What is taking so damn long! We must get all these filthy barbarians out of their houses before the savages kill them.”

“He wants to know if you need a ride,” mistranslates Dimitri to Baba.

“Barbarians? You’re the barbarians for invading our country,” yells the father in broken Russian, throwing the soldiers and captain off guard.

“And the mujahedeen are not savages,” Baba continues.

“Oh really? They have no mercy. Skinned my entire platoon up north.  Left only one alive to tell the story,” replies the captain.

The rest of the family comes out of the house. Moore, Sahar and grandma wear hijabs. The women stand behind the grandpa with their heads down.

“And you know what they did to the younger soldiers? The pretty young ones?”

Sahar studying Russian in school and learning from her father, here and there, comprehends the captain. She tilts her head and peeks at him, he shoots her a look right back, shying her away.

“They fucking raped them before they were skinned… Now you call those human beings, or savages? Who does such a thing,” states the captain.

“Perhaps you don’t belong here,” replies Baba.

“You don’t know it yet, but your country is part of the Soviet Union now,” says the captain as he begins to walk away. “Everyone has failed to conquer this land but the Soviets. Welcome to the Union!”

“Get them out of here,” the captain says to the soldiers.

“I would offer you a ride, but we must get moving,” says Dimitri in Dari.

“Thank you. We’re good,” says Baba leading his family away to the side of the house.

The captain and soldiers get into their vehicle and drive off.

A brand new ’79 Chevy station wagon pulls out of the front gate. The hummer stops. Both soldiers stick their heads out of the windows.

“Wow! The Americans, they know how to built a great moving vehicle.”

The station wagon drives down a dirt road and makes its way through: pedestrians carrying luggage on their heads, women and children riding donkeys, men with children or women on backseats of bicycles riding away and carriages with mountain high luggage, children and women on its sides while pushed by men.

The station wagon pulls into a paved driveway that leads to a mansion’s gate, where it stops. Baba sticks his head out of the driver’s side window. The guard comes over to him and shakes his hand. The gate opens and the vehicle drives into the mansion. Inside the vehicle, the two little ones tease Sahar as it drives through a posh roadway with pine trees towering to both sides of the path.

“You love him, don’t you,” whispers the younger one, having Sahar shy away. The girls burst into laughter.

The vehicle pulls up to the front of a beautiful marble building.  Everyone exits the vehicle. Muhib, strong, svelte, shoulder length hair, jet green eyes, olive skin, chiseled jaw-line, dressed as a total western, wearing bell bottoms and a tight colorful collard shirt comes out of the house followed by his parents. Both his parents are dressed in high fashion western attire as well.

They all greet traditionally.  Khalid and the two girls disperse, chasing one another into the open field. “Keep them in your sight,” says Moore to Sahar.

Sahar walks the same direction.

“I’ll keep my eyes on them,” says Muhib, just as he is about to walk after Sahar. “Not just yet, anxious little fella,” says Baba. Everyone giggles and smiles. Muhib, embarrassed, looks down. His father walks up to him and hugs him.

“Lets go inside please,” says Muhib’s mother. Sahar looks back one last time and smiles at Muhib before she disappears into the greenery.

The girls chase Khalid around a tree with a swing hanging from it. One of the girls gets on the swing. “No, come off now,” yells Khalid. “No, I got on first,” replies his sister. Sahar walks over to the commotion, asking, “who got to it first?”

“I did,” says the little one. “Yea, but boys go first. We are more powerful.”

“Oh yea,” says Sahar while pinning him down to the ground. The other girls join Sahar and begin to tickle him. “Okay, no more please.” They let go of him. He quickly gets up and jumps on the swing, bursting into laughter. “You see, we’re smarter, tricked you.” “Not fair,” says the little one. “No more fighting,” pointing over to a little stream that runs through the mansion’s property, “I’ll be there,” says Sahar.

“Move, move away,” says Khalid to the two girls. He grasps the rope and ascends up towards the tree’s branches. The girls look up at him as he continues to climb like a monkey. “Don’t touch the rope, I will fall.” The girls wait there for a split second before getting impatient. “Not fair, I’m bored,” says the little one. She taps her sister, “you’re it,” running off. The sister runs after her.

Sahar sits by a soothing stream cupping the flowing water from time to time. Behind her, a few yards away, Muhib sits down.  She continues to daydream.

“Hey,” whispers Muhib softly.

“Oh! Where did you—you’re not supposed to…”

“It’s okay, they’re drinking tea… I’m sorry about your house.”

“Thank you.”

“I see every obstacle as a blessing,” moving closer to her.

“Our house might be demolished by the mujahedeen, cause it’s right next—.”

“The obstacle.”

“We might be here for a while Baba jaan said.”

“The blessing.”

They both laugh.

“Moore said, ‘we don’t know when the wedding will be with all this mess.’ You know my parents, they don’t want just a nikah and a small get together.”

“Oh I believe you. My mom and dad have been planning my wedding the day I became a man.”

“A man?” she giggles.

“You know Ustad Rahim Bakash, Nash Naaz, Ahmed Zahir and a bunch of other singers are coming,” moving closer to her.

“You better go before my father sees us.”

“Can we just hug a little?”

“No,” moving away.

“Come on, just like we were little,” he smiles brightly.

“We’re not little no more,” shying away and crossing her arms.

He gives up and turns away.

KABOOM!

An explosion occurs in the distance. With that, she jumps into his arms and holds him tightly. They embrace tightly for an eternal moment to pass by, as the stream flows and birds chirp. Distant sounds of explosions continue to emanate from afar intermittently. Not too far behind the couple is the tree where Khalid is now at the top of it.

Khalid sits on a branch surveying the neighborhood; he has a bird’s eye view of the mansion, its property and beyond it. He sees the hummer approaching the mansion. He prepares to climb back down.

The couple still embraced. Khalid comes down from the tree and runs off. Muhib gently comes out of Sahar’s arms and ogles at her eyes. They both smile. The two little girls run up to the tree and begin chasing one another around it. Sahar gets up, reaches her hand out to Muhib and lifts him. They walk towards the tree.

Khalid walks down a dirt road amongst other pedestrians. He approaches the hummer. It’s empty. He gets in. His curiosity is stimulated; he begins to look at every detail of the military vehicle.

Sahar comes to the tree alone as Muhib walks towards the house. The younger sister pushes the older sister on the swing.

“Where’s Khalid?”

“Up in the tree.”

Sahar looks up and yells, “Khalid!”

Muhib looks back, turns around and walks back towards the tree.

“Khalid! Where did he go?”

“We don’t know,” says the younger sister as she continues to push the swing.  Sahar panics.

“He should be here. Lets go look in the pomegranate field, or the pine tree row. I’m sure he’s here,” says Muhib.

“Why don’t we go there, and you go there,” says the little one, pointing in different directions.

“No, come with me,” says Muhib, leading all the girls towards the pine tree row.

The captain and two soldiers approach the hummer. Khalid quickly jumps in the back and hides underneath the seat.  All three enter the vehicle, captain in the middle. The vehicle drives off. “Captain Gniewko!?,” blares from the hummer’s radio.

“Captain Gniewko, over.”

“We need your team at the front line, immediately. At the base of the mountain.”

“Copy and over.” The captain hangs up the radio and continues, “drop me off over there. I will continue to evacuate. You go and come right back.”

“Yes sir.”

The vehicle pulls over to the side of the road at a small house. The captain steps out. “I’ll begin with these small shit shacks and make my way there. Come find me as soon as you’ve completed your mission.”

“Yes sir.”

The vehicle drives off, heading towards a mountain. The houses get larger and larger as the road moves closer to the mountain; Muhib’s house is at the very end of the road. Flares can be seen from a distance.  Khalid comes out from under the back seat.

“Hi. Remember me?” Both soldiers are shocked.

“You gentlemen do remember me, right? ” says Khalid in Pashtu.

Both soldiers begin to panic. “We don’t understand,” states Dimitri in Dari.

“This is so much fun, look at all those fire works.”

They approach the front line and park next to other military vehicles.

“What the fuck are we going to do with this kid,” expresses Sasha in Russian.

“Is he mad? He does sound mad.”

“Tell him to go! Get him out of here.”

“He doesn’t understand me, and I have no idea what he’s saying.”

“Don’t move!” says Sasha directly to Khalid, while gesturing to stay in the vehicle. “We’ll just take him back with us and leave him near the house,” continues Dimitri to Sasha.”

“We’ll be back. DO NOT MOVE,” demands Dimitri in Dari to Khalid.

The soldiers exit the vehicle. Khalid sneaks up and looks after them as they walk towards a small tent.  He sits there for a moment and then peaks around. He gets bored. He slowly opens the passenger side door and leaves the vehicle.

Muhib walks up and down the pomegranate fields, “Khalid! Khalid jaan! Khalid!”

Sahar runs towards the house. Inside the house, the mother cries hysterically. The little girls continue to confess and tell their father when the last time was they saw Khalid. Muhib’s parents prepare to leave the house.  Muhib comes running into the house. “I can’t find him anywhere.”

“Come lets go,” says Baba. They all exit the building.

Baba and Muhib’s dad walk over to the station wagon. The rest of the family follows. “We’re going to drive as far as we can to get to the front line,” says Baba as he gets into his car. Muhib’s father gestures to the opposite direction looking at his son, “search all the houses, see if he’s in any.”

“Yea, he’s a curious little boy,” says Moore as she walks up to Baba. “I’m going too.” She gets in the back seat of the car. “You stay with the girls,” says Muhib’s father to his wife as he gets in the passenger side of the car. The car drives off, leaving the rest of the family behind looking after them.

Khalid wonders around the dirt roads and chaos. The elderly, children and women are being evacuated from their homes, while the young and strong men are arrested by Soviet soldiers. Soviet military vehicles move towards the mountains. Missiles launch from time to time from the mountain’s caves up towards the sky at the helicopters.  A missile fires from the mountain landing at the Soviet front line; sending a tank into pieces. Civilians, children, women and the elderly get hit. Limbs missing, guts spilled out on the roadside, children screaming. Military vehicles continue to move forward towards the mountain, driving over and crushing some injured civilians who lie in the roadway. Khalid calmly and curiously walks around observing. He stands in front of a deserted toy store. He picks up some of the toys and plays with it. He puts the toy back down and walks towards the mountain; closer to the front line. Sasha and Dimitri get back into their hummer.

“We’re on our way captain,” says Sasha over the radio.

“What about the kid?”

“What about the kid? Drive already,” demands Sasha.

Khalid sees the hummer and starts walking over to it.  The hummer begins to move slowly. Khalid starts pushing people out of his way, but can’t seem to make his way through the crowd of people. He continues to push through the chaos. The hummer begins to move faster. Khalid advances towards the hummer.  The hummer disappears in the dust, leaving Khalid behind.  The dust clears out as Khalid watches the hummer drive away from the front line.

A rocket fires from the mountain aiming for the front line.  The rocket slowly makes its way at lightening speed. Khalid, all bummed out, slowly walks away from the front line, back towards his home through the chaos. He witnesses a teenage girl with both legs missing, crying hysterically, as her grandfather and mother tend to her. He freezes. Stands still and observes, not a tear drop. The little girl and he look directly at one another, he calm, she, in pain and agony. The rocket continues to aim for the front line. Khalid switches his gaze from the incident and looks up at the sky. His eyes meet the rocket in the sky, aiming directly at him. Khalid points up at the sky as if it’s a bird or some sort of super hero. Time stands still. Complete silence. The rocket and Khalid embrace one another.

KABOOM!

 

“You girls stay here, I’m going to look for him in the pomegranate fields,” says Muhib’s mom to the three sisters.

“But Muhib looked for him there already,” says the little one. “No, he looked for him in the pine row,” replies the other sister.”

“Your brother loves pomegranates, I’m sure he’s there munching on one in the corner somewhere. You girls, do, not, leave the house.”

They all nod. She exits the house.

Moore, Baba and Muhib’s dad walk against the current, against a crowd of people. After pushing and shoving, they finally get close to the front line.

The hummer is back in Muhib’s neighborhood. It waits outside a mansion. The Captain comes out and enters the vehicle.

Muhib goes in and out of houses looking for Khalid.

The captain yells at an elderly man in Russian. “Tell him, he must leave. The entire area will be demolished soon.”

“I am not leaving my house. The only thing we Pashtuns fear is AllahtaAllah,” replies the elderly man in Dari.

“Please sir,” says Dimitri.

The children and women begin to cry. The captain slaps the elderly man across the face. Not a slight bodily movement or a flinch, he just stands there and waits for another slap. The children get in between their granddaddy and the captain.

“Captain, please,” quietly states Dimitri. The captain pulls out his pistol and points it right at his own soldier. “You don’t give me orders! You understand!” Sasha gets in between the captain and Dimitri.

Dimitri looks down. The captain lowers his pistol. Sasha moves away. The captain walks away as the two soldiers follow.

Baba and Muhib’s father walk ten yards ahead of Moore through the mayhem of people. Moore spots a little boy playing with toys at the same deserted store that Khalid was at earlier. She runs towards the boy, with his back to her, grabs him, lifts him and holds him in her arms. Once she lets go, she realizes it’s not Khalid.

“Where’re your parents.”

“I don’t know?”

“Lets go find them.”

Baba looks back. Moore is nowhere in sight. They’ve parted from one another in the midst of this chaos.

The captain and two soldiers walk up to the main gate of Muhib’s house. The captain exchanges a few words with the guard. The guard stands in front of the gate.

“Over my dead body,” states the guard in Dari.

“What did he say,” asks the captain in Russian.

“He said, ‘over my dead body”, replies Dimitri.

“Sure,” yells the captain, as he raises his pistol to the guard, shooting him bull’s eye. The guard drops.

Baba looks for Moore relentlessly. Moore holds the little boy she picked up at the store and moves closer to the front line.  It’s clearly evident to Moore that the causalities are increasing as she moves closer and closer. She puts the little boy down. “You stay right here, it’s not safe there. Don’t move. I’ll be right back. If you see your parents, go with them.” She leaves him behind and walks about. Guts of men, women and children are spilled all over the dirt roads; little infants crying hysterically. Moore steps and stumbles over some causality. A missile launches from the mountain and aims right for where Moore stands.

“Give me the rifle,” yells the captain in Russian at the poor little old man with Khalid’s grandma right behind him in the room. In the room next door, in Muhib’s house, the two soldiers point their pistols at Sahar and her two little sisters. “Just get all your things together. You must all leave right now,” says Dimitri to Sahar in Dari. The captain struggles with the grandfather to hand over the rifle, yelling, “come tell this fool to hand over the rifle, or I’ll shoot them both. No one is allowed to have anything in their household.” He continues to struggle with him. The little girls next door cry hysterically, while Sahar is in fear. The captain has his pistol in between the old man and himself. They both struggle. Grandpa won’t let go of the rifle. Grandma tries to pull the captain off of her husband. The pistol goes off. Grandpa drops to the ground. Grandma yanks on the captain. She begins to scream and yell. The captain shoots her in the head, grabs the rifle and walks to the room next door.  He goes in, hands the rifle to Sasha, walks over to Sahar, grabs her by her hair and drags her away. “Keep them in here!” the two little sisters won’t let go of Sahar. Finally the captain separates her from them and drags her out of the room. The little ones hold tightly onto one another and cry. The soldiers stand there and keep their guns pointed at them.  The captain brings Sahar into another room, throws her on the bed and forces himself on her.  She struggles at first, but then gives in. Dimitri can’t bare the chaos any longer next door. He walks out of the room and down the hall, walking over to where the captain and Sahar are. Moaning and groaning of the captain emanate from within the room, as Dimitri moves closer and closer. Sasha stands in the doorway keeping his gun pointed at the children and yells after Dimitri, “follow your orders soldier!” The captain hears Sasha from outside the hall, while he’s on top of Sahar. He gets a hold of his pistol. Dimitri turns back, shoots Sasha in the head and than continues to walk about towards where the captain and Sahar are. Dimitri and the captain fire at one another at the exact time. Dimitri’s bullet shoots through the captain’s heart and pierces right through Sahar’s eye. The captain’s bullet shoots Dimitri right in the head.

 

Moore and Khalid embrace in the midst of all the chaos. She puts him down, looks into his eyes, cries, kisses him and then embraces him. She holds him tight for several moments and then lets go. She gets up, holds his hand tight and walks about through the mayhem.  Baba and Muhib’s dad continue to search for Moore and Khalid.  The little kid from before is finally united with his parents. Baba stops and asks, “have you seen a little boy or a lady wearing western clothing,” pointing at Muhib’s dad’s clothing and describes what the boy was wearing. Moore and Khalid walk right up to the commotion between them all and stand right next to them.

“I did,” says the little boy.

“What was she wearing?” He describes exactly what Moore was wearing. She stands there and smiles at him.

“Which way did she go?”

“She said she was looking for a little boy.” The little boy continues to describe Khalid, as Khalid stands there and observes him. The little boy points in the direction of the frontline. The two men disperse, leaving the family, little boy, Khalid and Moore behind.  Moore and Khalid continue to walk about.  They come up to Muhib’s house. They are about to walk through the gate, instead, Dimitri comes running out of the house.

“Don’t go in there,” he says to Moore in Dari. She nods and walks about towards a majestic mountain. Sahar comes out of the house as well, and walks up to Moore and Khalid. They hug her and then continue to walk about, away from the house, towards the mountain. As they walk about, grandpa and grandma walk up to them, one to each side and hold hands.

As the family continues to walk towards the majestic mountain, time seems to fast-forward, a year with every step. Russian tanks and airplanes leave the country.  Mujahedeen forces fight Taliban forces. Famine and casualties continue to rise. Muhib joins Sahar. He walks right up to her, and squeezes in, between the grandma and her. They all hold hands and continue to walk. Mujahedeen forces are defeated by Taliban.  Baba walks up to Moore, hugs and kisses her and than holds her hand. They all continue to walk about. Taliban forces are defeated by American forces, causing more civilian deaths. Muhib’s mom, dad, and the two little ones appear and join the family.

As the entire group continues to walk towards the mountain, time continues to fast-forward at the speed of darkness. Once they reach the mountain top, they all look down, it’s the year 2020. Kandahar is the mecca of the entire planet; the capital of Afghanistan has been moved back to its original city from Kabul. Kandahar is the most advanced city on the planet, topping all the cities: Seoul, Tokyo, New York City, Rio, London, Shanghai, Dubai or any other city for that matter. Technologically, economically, academically and agriculturally not a single city on the planet can compete with it, including every one of the cities of the country that helped built it; the United States of America.

 

The End.

 

© Written by Monière 12/21/12