‘I suppose.’
Sofia could see she had got through to her and was glad. Iman took everything so personally, which was understandable, but it did tend to make her look on the negative side of things too often. ‘Come on,’ she said, trying to brighten Iman’s mood. ‘You know I’m right.’
Iman shrugged again.
Sofia had an idea that might help lighten Iman’s load. ‘Have you ever met any of the women from the Afghan Women’s Network? I could introduce you, but I’m sure your mother would know them too. Why don’t you take your protest idea to them? Join forces and make it bigger?’
Iman ignored her suggestion, sinking deeper into negativity, so different from her mood that morning. ‘What’s going to happen when the West go and the Taliban get back into power? What’s going to happen to our rights then?’
Sofia shook her head. It would be a disaster for the women of Afghanistan: everything they had worked for could be lost again.
‘I only have this one life to live, Dr Sofia,’ Iman said, sitting forward in her seat. I don’t want it to be wasted under the Taliban. I don’t want men telling me how I should live and who I should be.’
Sofia could see she was scared. She had every reason to be. ‘I know, Iman. I know.’
Iman pouted. ‘Khalif was going to take me to his friend’s tabang wallah near Shahr-e Naw this morning. We had a fight.’
‘Ah.’ She understood. Modern young Kabul women like Iman didn’t want to be taken out to eat street food near Kabul’s central park. They wanted the city’s hip Western cafés. There was no way of making Khalif ’s choice attractive so she didn’t even try. ‘You might be interested to know that I didn’t talk about the midwives to Zahra’s group today. I talked about what life is like for the children of Jamal Mina and how they’re going missing and how no one cares.’
‘No! You didn’t!’ Iman said, sitting up straight, and more animated now. ‘Wow. I’m not surprised it didn’t go down well. You must’ve really upset them.’
‘Maybe, but I understand their reaction. It’s not a pleasant subject to be ambushed with.’
Iman wasn’t listening. ‘Wow, I’d have given anything to have been there. The looks on their faces must’ve been priceless.’
Sofia saw the looks on their faces and priceless wasn’t how she would have described them. She had also seen the look on Zahra’s face. It wasn’t priceless either. It had been wrong to ambush her friend like that. Part of her wanted to apologise, but another part of her said she had nothing to apologise for. Something needed to be done about paedophilia and the first thing that needed to be done was what Jabril had been trying to do even before the boys had gone missing: start an open conversation about the taboo subject. These women needed to be part of that conversation. If just one of those powerful women would be moved enough to do something then it had been worth it. ‘I assure you, it didn’t feel too priceless.’ Sofia stood up, closed her laptop and put it in its bag before walking to the coat stand to pull her scarf off and wrap it around her hair. ‘Come on, let’s get out of here,’ she said, hitching her bag and the laptop over her shoulder.
‘Well?’ Iman asked as they were walking down the stairs.
‘Well what?’
‘What was the man from the UN like?’
‘Nice.’
‘Nice?’ Iman stopped, tapping Sofia on the shoulder so she’d turn around and look at her. ‘That tells me nothing. Nice,’ she said, pulling a face. ‘Nice is as bad as interesting. Was he handsome, like in the paper?’
Sofia leaned up against the wall and shrugged. ‘I suppose so, if you like that type.’
‘What type would that be?’ Iman was having fun.
‘I don’t know.’ Sofia was about to continue down the stairs when Iman spoke again.
‘And do you like that type?’
‘It’s irrelevant what I like.’
‘Maybe I should have been here to meet him. I wouldn’t have found it irrelevant.’
Sofia walked down the stairs. ‘Maybe you should have.’
‘Oh, by the way,’ Iman said when they’d reached the square. ‘I saw Farahnaz leaving the surgery when I came back this morning but I didn’t see any notes about her visit on file.’
‘There won’t be any.’
‘Okaaaay,’ Iman said, drawing the word out and nodding her head.
Sofia knew exactly what Iman’s ‘okaaaay’ meant. She sniffed a secret and was now obliged to uncover it. The young woman got bored too easily and fell into gossip. Maybe the kindest thing for Sofia to do would be to fire her so she would finally go to university.
After locking the door to the stairs and saying goodbye to Iqbal, Iman and Rashid, Sofia headed off across the square only to find Rashid following close behind her. She waited until Rashid came alongside before she began walking again. ‘What’s going on, Rashid?’
‘Nothing.’
‘Then why were you following me?’
‘It’s my job.’
Sofia stopped and turned to him. ‘I thought we settled this a long time ago. You don’t need to walk across the square with me.’
‘But I do.’
Sofia searched Rashid’s face. With his warm swarthy skin, golden bright eyes, a long aquiline nose and abundant soft dark curls framing his face and neck beneath his pakol, she had always thought Rashid a handsome man. She believed he was her friend and would do just about anything for her, just as she would for him, but it was an odd friendship where there had never been any personal exchanges, unlike with her driver, Tawfiq. She accepted that was just the way most Afghan men were. It didn’t mean he cared any less. She often wondered whether the warmest part of him had been lost with the death of his two oldest children in the suicide bomb, or if it remained in safekeeping with his wife in Iran.
‘But you don’t,’ she insisted, adding a smile so he would not mistake her words as criticism.
‘But I do.’
She let her smile broaden. ‘Okay, this isn’t really getting us anywhere, is it? Can you tell me why you’re doing this?’
‘Dr Jabril said I have to.’
Sofia arched an eyebrow. ‘I see. And when did he say this?’
‘Every time you leave the surgery and every time you leave Behnaz’s house, unless you’re with Tawfiq.’
‘No,’ Sofia said, shaking her head, ‘I mean when precisely did he tell you that you needed to follow me?’ She saw the confusion. ‘Was it this morning? Did Dr Jabril tell you this morning to do this?’
‘Oh no,’ Rashid said, looking relieved he could finally understand. ‘He told me at lunchtime.’
‘Okay,’ Sofia said as they started walking again. She made a mental note to ask Jabril what this new security was all about.
Once back in her apartment she made a cup of tea and lay down on her bed before calling Taban to see if she had any further news about Farahnaz’s brother. When the call dropped out she wasn’t surprised; the network in Jamal Mina was notoriously unreliable. Thinking about Taban and remembering her conversation with Iman, she thought it might be a good idea to introduce the two women. Iman would see that Taban was one of the gutsy women of Afghanistan worth admiring.