2
Azadah stood by the well, but had brought no water container.
She could go to the market, but it was a long walk and she had just gone this morning to prepare for the American’s arrival. It wouldn’t matter; the stalls would now be closed in the heat of midday. She had paid a bribe to get the position—a bribe that was only shocking in how meager it had needed to be. How far she had fallen, nothing left but her clothing and her pride.
She stared out at the empty airport. It shimmered in the dry heat. The place where so many planes used to land that there was never silence in Lashkar Gah was now filled only with the wind and the one lone passenger plane that would be leaving soon. That plane was the only safe way to cross back to Kandahar or Kabul—if one had the money. The roads were fil
