Free Parvana's Journey by Deborah Ellis Page A

several thermos flasks, and a box of bars of soap, some chewed by mice.
    “Where did all this come from?” Parvana asked.
    “A peddler got blown up in the mine field. That was a really good day. We got all these things. I made myself this dress from some of the cloth.”
    Parvana struggled to understand. “You mean you go out into the mine field when you hear an explosion?”
    “Of course. That’s how I found you.”
    “What happened to the peddler?”
    “Oh, he was blown up. His cart and clothes were all blown up, too. Nothing there we could use. I had to make a lot of trips to carry all these things back.”
    Parvana had an image of Leila as a spider, waiting for a fly to become trapped in her web.
    Asif had joined them in time to hear the last part. “You actually go into the mine field? That’s stupid.”
    Parvana frowned at him.
    “He means it’s dangerous.”
    “Not for me,” Leila said. “The ground likes me. Every time I eat, I put a few crumbs in the ground to feed it. That’s what keeps me safe. Oh, no, it’s not dangerous for me. Do what I do, and it won’t be dangerous for you, either.”
    “You’re a little bit crazy, aren’t you?” Asif said.
    “Pay no attention to him,” Parvana said, putting her arm around the girl’s shoulder. “He’s always in a bad mood.”
    “You two belong together,” Asif said over his shoulder as he hobbled away to answer Hassan’s call from inside the house. “You’re both dreamers.”
    Leila smiled at Parvana.
    “Let’s be sisters,” she said.
    Being sisters sounded fine to Parvana.
    “All right. We’ll be sisters.”
    “Can your brothers be my brothers?”
    “You mean Asif and Hassan? They’re not my brothers. We just sort of found each other.”
    “That makes them your brothers,” Leila said.
    “Yes, I guess it does,” Parvana agreed, and she wondered how Asif would feel about having her for a sister.
    “And that makes them my brothers, and my grandmother is your grandmother.”
    Parvana didn’t say how she felt about having a lump on a mattress for a grandmother. It didn’t matter. A grandmother was a grandmother, and it was nice to have one.
    “Who taught you to cook and take care of things?” Parvana asked.
    “I used to watch my brother and father do things before they went off to the war. My grandmother and my mother taught me other things, and some things I just made up.” Leila skipped off to build the fire up to make the morning tea.
    Parvana found Asif shuffling through a pile of broken bits of board by the pigeon house.
    “I think I’d like to stay here for a while,” she told him.
    “If you think I’m going to stay here with that crazy girl and her crazy grandmother, you’re as crazy as they are.”
    “I didn’t ask you to stay,” Parvana said. “I just said I’m staying. Hassan, too,” she added.
    “You’re probably hoping I’ll go,” Asif said. “It will probably make you miserable if I stay.”
    Parvana knew what was coming. She kept quiet.
    “So I will stay,” Asif decided, “but only because it will annoy you.” He poked a crutch at the rubble one more time before walking away.
    Parvana sighed. He really was a tiresome boy.
    Dear Shauzia:
    We’ve found a real Green Valley. It’s a little rough still, and it will take a lot of work to make it beautiful, but we can do it.
    This is a place where children are safe. No one is hurt or beaten or taken away in the night. Everyone is kind to everyone else, and no one is afraid.
    We won’t let the war in here. We’ll build a place that is happy and free, and if any war people come they will feel too good to keep on killing.
    Parvana looked around the clearing. There was so much work to do. She smiled.
    They would begin by cleaning up the yard.

THIRTEEN
    Parvana kept her plan to herself for the first few days. She and Asif needed to rest and take care of Hassan, and she wanted Leila to get used to them before she started changing things.
    She did use an