The Kite Runner

by Khaled Hosseini

“When you kill a man, you steal a life,” Baba said. “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.

“Children aren’t coloring books. You don’t get to fill them with your favorite colors.”

And I could almost feel the emptiness in Soraya’s womb, like it was a living, breathing thing. It had seeped into our marriage, that emptiness, into our laughs, and our lovemaking. And late at night, in the darkness of our room, I’d feel it rising from Soraya and settling between us. Sleeping between us. Like a newborn child.

A man who has no conscience, no goodness, does not suffer.

Perspective was a luxury when your head was constantly buzzing with a swarm of demons.