“What I’m asking from you is to grant an old man his dying wish,” he said had gambled whh that comment. Played his best card. Or so I thought then. His words hung in limbo between us, but at least he’d known what to say. I was still searching for the right words, and I was the writer in the room. Finally, I settled for this: “Maybe Baba was right.” “I’m sorry you think that, Amir.”I couldn’t look at him. “And you don’t?” “If I did, I would not have asked you to come here.”I toyed with my wedding ring. “You’ve always thought too highly of me, Rahim Khan.”“And you’ve always been far too hard on yourself.” He hesitated. “But there’s something else. Something you don’t know.” “Please, Rahim Khan--”“Sanaubar wasn’t Ali’s first wife.”Now I looked up.“He was married once before, to a Hazara woman from the Jaghori area. This was long before you were born. They were married for three years.” “What does this have to do with anything?” “She left him childless after three years and married a man in Khost. She bore him three daughters. That’s what I am trying to tell you.”I began to see where he was going. But I didn’t want to hear the rest of it. I had a good life in California, pretty Victorian home with a peaked roof, a good marriage, a promising writing career, in-laws who loved me. I didn’t need any of this shit. “Ali was sterile,” Rahim Khan said.padding-bottom: 75%;"> “我所哀求的，是要你滿足一個老人的臨終遺願。”他悲傷地說。他把寶押在那句話上，甩出他最好的牌。或者這僅是我的想法。他話中帶着模棱兩可的意思，但他至少知道說些什麼。而我，這個房間裏的作家，仍在尋找合適的字眼。最終，我吐出這樣的句子：“也許爸爸說對了。”“你這麼想讓我很難過，阿米爾。”我無法看着他，“你不這樣想嗎？” “如果我這麼想，我就不會求你到這兒來。”我撥弄着指上的結婚戒指：“你總是太過擡舉我了，拉辛汗。” “一直以來，你對自己太嚴苛了。”他猶疑着說，“但還有些事情，還有些你所不知道的事情。” “拜託，拉辛汗……”“莎娜芭不是阿里的第一個妻子。”現在我擡起頭。“他之前結過一次婚，跟一個雅荷裏來的哈扎拉女人。那是早在你出生之前的事情。他們的婚姻持續了三年。” “這跟什麼事情有關係嗎？” “三年後，她仍沒生孩子，拋棄了阿里，去科斯特跟一個男人結婚。她給他生了三個女兒。這就是我想告訴你的。”我開始明白他要說什麼，但我實在不想聽下去了。我在加利福尼亞有美好的生活，有座帶尖頂的漂亮房子，婚姻幸福，是個前程遠大的作家，岳父岳母都很愛我。我不需要這些亂七八糟的事。 “阿里是個不育的男人。”拉辛汗說。
