The Smell of Halvah

A short story by: Mubina Sultani. This short story is part of a collection of short stories written by the female students of a high school in Kabul that Jawad Rafat and I have translated from Persian to English.

He was sitting at the opposite side of the grocery store and was looking at the gathering and rumbling of the alley. For two weeks, almost every day, the alley was crowded like that. He lifted his long and uncircumcised hair and slipped it backward while letting out a sigh of laziness. A big truck passed from the distance between him and the shop.

Five bucks of Afghani coin fell in front of him, and the fat guy who threw it went off without looking at him.

The alley was filled with the smell of Halvah. Halvah, and Daldeh, …. you have no idea how much he hated this smell!! He could get nothing from these seemingly benevolent peoples’ alms and doles except its smoke and smells. His mind was busy with the same thought when the latest Model Land Cruiser with black and smoky glasses came, quickly passed, and paraded thousands of kilos of dust and dirt into the air. All shopkeepers came out of their shops and mumbled to themselves, “look, look! It’s himself; it’s his second time coming to the alley. A few days ago…