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
Bread Some bread Cookies squares pies cakes Things like that Apple turnovers Certainly sir My favorite If you like I can ask my parents to send you some Thank you Corporal They will be stale by the time they get here but still pretty good I’ll bet So a small-town bakery with a little bit of everything And when you worked there you did a bit of everything baking calling suppliers dealing with customers Yes sir Ever get the feeling that someone is up to no good Sir Someone comes into your store and they don’t do anything bad and they don’t say anything bad but still you think There’s something off about this customer And so you watch them closely and you’re glad when they leave I suppose so sir It’s a small town but bad things happen everywhere The man tapped his pen against the edge of the desk He tapped for a while The girl in the blue chador knew she would have to work hard to keep it from annoying her
Look at her the man said There was the sound of bodies shifting in seats She hasn’t spoken a word and she stood still and waited to be arrested he said What does that tell you I don’t know sir Perhaps she’s afraid Does she look afraid There was another pause No sir She doesn’t Perhaps though perhaps there is something wrong with her Maybe she isn’t smart enough to be afraid You were a baker Corporal I worked Security I’ve learned how to spot trouble And this girl is trouble What do we know about her Very little sir She was picked up in an abandoned ruin that used to be a school We suspect that it is now being used as a staging area for the Taliban to launch attacks against us and our intelligence gathering among the villagers seems to confirm that although no one will speak openly This girl was the only one there And she had a tattered bag over her shoulder In the bag were some papers that had the name Parvana on them That’s why we think that might be her name Let me see the bag Sir I believe the analysts have it
