The Swallows of Kabul Chapter 4

Khandra starts out by describing how dreary the city of Kabul looks now that it has been attacked. He describes all the taliban members patrolling the streets while Atiq goes on his way to the mosque to pray. He goes in to relax before they start to pray, and then they are all called to do one of their daily prayers. A small man tries to to get Atiq to pray in the line with them, but Atiq refuses, and kind of hurts the little man in the process. After they are all done praying, Atiq still tries to delay going home because he still does not want to face his wife, and he listens to a group of wounded veterans' stories about being attacked during the war. I thought it was interesting and kind of weird that one man kept saying that the dead stunk very badly, while all of the others were persistant on the fact that their dead did not stink at all, that they smelled quite good. This was because they were blessed because they were serving their god. One man also talks about how an angel came down very close to him. When Atiq finally goes home, he finds that his house is very clean, and all the chores are done, even though he knows that his sister was not supposed to return yet. He finds that his sick wife, had done everything and they get into a fight about her wasting all of her strength as soon as she gets some of it back. He wants her to save her strength to heal the disease, but she feels that she needs to perform her duities as a wife unitl the day she dies. They argue about this for a while, then Atiq finally leaves in fury.
Mohsen and Zunaira are still fighting also, and Mohsen decides to go outside for a breath of fresh air as well. While he is sitting on his front step, he sees Atiq walk very quickly past him, and Mohsen can tell that Atiq was very angry.