ONE Is your name Parvana The girl in the dusty blue chador gave no response She sat without moving on the hard metal chair and kept her eyes lowered The cloth of the chador covered the lower half of her face If her mouth twitched in recognition of the English words the uniformed man and woman staring at her could not tell Is your name Parvana The woman repeated the man’s question translating it into Dari then Pashtu Then after a pause into Uzbek The girl stayed still She’s not answering sir I can see that Corporal Ask her again The woman cleared her throat then repeated the question in all three languages
lack of volume that kept the girl from responding The girl did not move and she did not answer She kept her eyes on a scuff mark on the floor and did not look up Sounds reached the little office sounds muffled by walls and from far away A truck engine Boots pounding sand A jet flying overhead The whirl of a helicopter blade The girl knew there were other people around She had seen them when they rushed her from the truck and brought her in to sit in this small room on this hard chair She had not looked around then either keeping her eyes on the sand and rock of the yard then on the cement block stairs and then on the hard gray floor of the long hallway Perhaps she is deaf sir She’s not deaf the man replied Look at her Does Is your name Parvana The words were louder this time as though it were a she look deaf I’m not sure If she were deaf she would be looking all around trying to figure out what was going on Is she looking around Has she raised her head No Her eyes have been lowered since she was brought in and I haven’t seen her raise her head once Trust me she is not deaf But she hasn’t spoken Major Not a word
She probably said something when they grabbed her and put her in the truck Did she scream or yell anything No sir Well what did she do The girl in the blue chador heard the sound of papers fluttering as the woman in the green army uniform read through a report Sir it says here that she stood still and waited Stood still and waited The man said the words slowly as though he was chewing them around in his mouth Corporal what is your gut telling you about her There was a pause The girl in the blue chador imagined the woman was trying to figure out what sort of answer would please the major Sir I don’t have enough information to be able to form an opinion Corporal why did you join up My Spanish teacher suggested it She said I have an ear for languages and the military could use me You went to the Defense Language Institute in Monterey Yes sir You’re very young Ever hold any other job I worked in my parents bakery
