Saturday 24 September 2016

The city at the foot of the mountain - 28th letter


Dear Khodayar, I dreamt that I journeyed to Afghanistan – to the place where you were born. It was night-time and I was on a bus with other people. We travelled in the dark across a great plain toward a range of mountains. At the foot of the mountain the city stretched out. All along the edge of the plain we could see the lights coming from buildings of the city. I didn’t know the name of the city.
It was too dangerous for us to get out of the bus. All we could do was look out the windows. All around us Afghans walked and rode motorbikes through the light of our headlights. They were mainly young men – like you Khodayar. Even though I didn’t know the name of the city I knew that it was very old; almost as old as civilisation itself. It was time for us to return to where we had come from. With the doors still shut tight, the bus driver spun the wheel, the bus hissed and heaved and our bus turned around back toward the border. Love Stephen

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