A Far Away Home by Howard Faber Page B

carried the bag inside, Shireen started crying. He could tell
she was very happy to see him stay. There was a lot to do in Sharidure.
    ***
    First, there was the garden to plant so they would have vegetables in the summer
and winter, but where could he get seeds? It turned out Shireen had kept some hidden
in the house. She had corn, tomatoes, eggplant, carrots, potatoes, and lettuce. Ali
went to work planting them in their field. He thought about wheat, but they didn’t
have enough land to grow enough to feed them. He asked Shireen if anyone she knew
had land to plant wheat. She did. One of her friends who lived on the edge of town
had several jereebs (about four acres) of land. Two other friends had cows to pull
the plow to soften the ground for planting. That is how, the first week he was back
home, Ali became a farmer during the day.

    Plowing With Oxen • By Unknown
    Shireen negotiated a deal with the landowner and the owners of the cows to share
the wheat crop.
    At night, Ali was a carpenter, first repairing, later making furniture for the women
in Sharidure. He wouldn’t take money but agreed to take eggs, vegetables, milk, and
other food for pay.
    ***
    About two weeks later, a truck coming from the west arrived with a letter for Ali
from Nafisa, his wife. The letter was full of joy and news about their children.
Everything was fine. He didn’t have to worry about them, but they would like to see
him when he could come.
    The letter was delivered by Reza, the Iranian pilot. “Ali, the Iranian government
wants me to fly the plane back to Muhshed. They are worried the Taliban might hear
about the plane and claim Iran is interfering in Afghanistan. Actually, they aren’t
worried about them thinking that. The Taliban know Iran is helping the Shia in Afghanistan.
It’s just that they can’t prove it. There is also some concern that your town might
be punished if the plane is found here.”
    â€œI am worried about that, too. Our town has suffered enough, and I don’t want to
bring danger to Shireen or anyone else. Can we fly the plane out?”
    â€œLet’s go see it. Homyoon told me to bring a propeller and a wing-tip. I also brought
fuel and some tools.” Reza sounded encouraging. They walked up to the airfield to
see the plane. Except for the propeller and wing-tip, the plane seemed completely
damage free. Reza climbed down from the cockpit and nodded his approval to Ali. “It
seems like it could fly. This airfield seems a little short, though. How long is
it?”
    Ali knew exactly how long it was and went on to tell Reza the story of the little
field. He told Reza about Dan and the flying lessons he gave him. He also told Reza
about the wind lift at the end of the runway. He and Reza walked down to end of the
runway to look over the edge at the valley below. “It helps that the runway is downhill.
It helps the plane pick up speed for the takeoff. How much runway does this plane
need to take off?”
    â€œAbout fifty meters more than this runway.” Reza was calm in his answer. “Did the
pilot have any other tricks for takeoff?”
    â€œHe did say you could start out uphill and get up some speed, then make a wide turn
to head down the hill. We never had to do that.”
    As they walked back up to the plane, Ali could tell that Reza was trying to figure
out what to do. When they got to the plane, Reza seemed to have decided. “Ali, go
back to get the fuel. I’ll run some preflight checks to be sure the engines and other
systems work. When you get back, we’ll decide about flying out of here.” Ali noticed
the word “we.” He felt honored that he was to help make the decision.
    On the way back to his house to get the aviation fuel, Ali thought about how to get
the four fuel containers back up to the plane. Maybe two strong men could carry one
at a time, but there were no men here. Maybe two strong women could carry the