追风筝的人是真实的吗 残忍而美丽的情谊:The Kite Runner 追风筝的人(68)

残忍而美丽的情谊:The Kite Runner 追风筝的人(68)  

THEY’D BOTH BEEN CRYING; I could tell from their red
puffed up eYes. They stood before Baba
hand in hand
and I wondered how and when I’d bee capable of causing this kind of pain.
Baba came right out and asked. “Did you steal that money? Did you steal Amir’s watch
Hassan?”
Hassan’s reply was a single word
delivered in a thin
raspy voice: “Yes.”
I flinched
like I’d been slapped. My heart sank and I almost blurted out the truth. Then I understood: This was Hassan’s final sacrifice for me. If he’d said no
Baba would have believed him because we all knew Hassan never lied. And if Baba believed him
then I’d be the accused; I would have to explain and I would be revealed for what I really was. Baba would never
ever five me. And that led to another understanding: Hassan knew He knew I’d seen everything in that alley
that I’d stood there and done nothing. He knew I had betrayed him and yet he was rescuing me once again
maybe for the last time. I loved him in that moment
loved him more than I’d ever loved anyone
and I wanted to tell them all that I was the snake in the grass
the monster in the lake. I wasn’t worthy of this sacrifice; I was a liar
a cheat
and a thief. And I would have told
except that a part of me was glad. Glad that this would all be over with soon. Baba would dismiss them
there would be some pain
but life would moveon. I wanted that
to move on
to fet
to start with a clean slate. I wanted to be able to breathe again.
Except Baba stunned me by saying
“I five you.”
Five? But theft was the one unfivable sin
the mon denominator of all sins. When you kill a man
you steal a life. You steal his wife’s right to a husband
rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie
you steal someone’s right to the truth. When you cheat
you steal the right to fairness. There is no act more wretched than stealing. Hadn’t Baba sat me on his lap and said those words to me? Then how could he just five Hassan? And if Baba could five that
then why couldn’t he five me for not being the son he’d always wanted? Why--“We are leaving
Agha sahib
” Ali said. “What?” Baba said
the color draining from his face.
“We can’t live here anymore
” Ali said.