THE SKY WAS A DEEP BLACK when the phone jolted me from sleep. I rubbed my eyes and turned on the bedside lamp. It was a little past 10:30 P.M.; I’d been sleeping for almost three hours. I picked up the phone. “Hello?” “Call from America.” Mr. Fayyaz’s bored voice. “Thank you,” I said. The bathroom light was on; Sohrab was taking his nightly bath. A couple of clicks and then Soraya: “Salaam!” She sounded excited. “How did the meeting go with the lawyer?” I told her what Omar Faisal had suggested. “Well, you can forget about it,” she said. “We won’t have to do that.” I sat up. “Rawsti? Why, what’s up?” “I heard back from Kaka Sharif. He said the key was getting Sohrab into the country. Once he’s in, there are ways of keeping him here. So he made a few calls to his INS friends. He called me back tonight and said he was almost certain he could get Sohrab a humanitarian visa.” “No kidding?” I said. “Oh thank God! Good ol’ Sharifjan!” “I know. Anyway, we’ll serve as the sponsors. It should all happen pretty quickly. He said the visa would be good for a year, plenty of time to apply for an adoption petition.” “It’s really going to happen, Soraya, huh?” “It looks like it,” she said. She sounded happy. I told her I loved her and she said she loved me back. I hung up. “Sohrab!” I called, rising from my bed. “I have great news.” I knocked on the bathroom door. “Sohrab! Soraya jan just called from California. We won’t have to put you in the orphanage, Sohrab. We’re going to America, you and I. Did you hear me? We’re going to America!” I pushed the door open. Stepped into the enly I was on my knees, screaming. Screaming through my clenched teeth. Screaming until I thought my throat would rip and my chest r, they said I was still screaming when the ambulance arrived. 電話將我驚醒的時候，天已經全黑了。我揉揉眼睛，旋開牀頭燈。剛過晚上10點半，我睡了將近三個小時。我拿起話筒。“喂？” “美國打來的電話。”費亞茲先生的聲音。 “謝謝。”我說。浴室的燈光亮着，索拉博又在洗澡了。電話傳來兩聲按鍵聲，然後是索拉雅的聲音。 “你好！”她聲音振奮。 “你跟那個律師談得怎樣？” 我把費薩爾的建議告訴她。“好了，你可以忘了它，”她說，“我們不用那麼做。” 我坐起來。“什麼？爲什麼？怎麼回事？” “我接到沙利夫舅舅的回電了。他說關鍵是把索拉博送進這個國家。只要他進來，就有很多把他留下的辦法。所以他給幾個在移民局的朋友打了電話。他今晚給我回電，說他很有把握能替索拉博爭取到人道主義簽證。” “不是開玩笑吧？”我說，“啊，謝謝真主！親愛的沙利夫太好了！” “我知道。不管怎樣，我們可以當保證人。一切會很快的。他說那種簽證有效期一年，足夠我們申請收養請求了。” “這樣最好了，索拉雅。對吧？” “看起來是的。”她說。她的聲音很快樂。我說我愛她，她說她也愛我。我們掛上電話。 “索拉博！”我喊道，從牀上起來，“我有個好消息。”我敲着浴室的門，“索拉博！親愛的索拉雅剛纔從加利福尼亞打電話來。我們不用把你放到恤孤院了，索拉博。我們就要去美國了，你和我。你聽到嗎？我們就要去美國了！” 我推開門，走進浴室。剎那間我跪倒在地，放聲大叫。我牙齒打顫，不斷大叫。叫得我的喉嚨快要裂開，叫得我的胸膛快要炸開。後來，他們說救護車來了之後我還不停叫着。
