Altruism by Aditi Kumar

He spits at them viciously, calling them the filthiest names he can think of. They are incensed at first, and retaliate by abusing him in their garbled tongue, but after a while, they begin ignoring him, maybe giving him a furtive kick or two when their superiors aren’t around.

He hates them from the very depths of his soul, these white jackals, sons of mangy dogs who probably roamed the streets in unwashed clothes back home – a place he believes is nightmarish in its very pristine condition. His friends had filled his ears day after day, before his capture, about how these fat Americans did nothing but loll around on squishy sofas and eat, how their politicians were all liars, how they had wives but always, always lied and cavorted with other women, who happened to be married to their own friends.

His bonds make his wrists itch, and he goes crazy trying not to scratch himself. Any sign of weakness now would only make those soldiers laugh, those loathsome cockroaches who seem to have nothing to do other than play with cards all day, smoking their cigars, and making lewd jokes to each other. He quickly suppresses a longing to do the same. What wouldn’t he give now, to sit in a circle with his friends, eating dry bread and hunks of lamb, reminiscing about their childhood days in various parts of Afghanistan – Kabul, Herat, Kandahar…

A white woman suddenly appears to his left. She is greeted by loud, raucous laughter and yells from her masculine companions, but she shushes them quickly and kneels in front of him. Her hair is very neatly combed back, her blonde ponytail down her right shoulder. She is wearing a white lab coat and stethoscope around her neck.

The fact that she is a doctor barely registers in his mind, as he takes in her uncovered face, her openly friendly movements as she feels his legs for any injury. A woman! A white woman at that, and with a face that any modest, God-fearing woman would have covered with a heavy burqa! When she looks up at him, a concerned look in her eyes, and opens her mouth to speak, he summons up all the phlegm in his throat and spits directly in her mouth. She gags and recoils; the men at the far end of the room rush to her aid. By the time the scuffle is over, and the woman stops screaming at the men to desist, he is hunched over the cold stone floor, blood streaming from the corner of his lips as a broken canine tooth tumbles out of his mouth. His eyes are puffed and purple, but he doesn’t care. They will prevent him from seeing that abomination to all womankind in the world. Why, back home, if he’d had his way, her carcass would be stinking up the alley.

He feels cold hands on his face, gently turning him around. Then, to his immense astonishment, a rather sweet, hesitant voice speaks in Farsi. “Are you alright?” she asks him. What audacity! He wants to strike her, but suddenly feels wonderful relief from pain as she begins applying some sort of soothing salve on his face and his legs.

He still struggles, but it is a rather lethargic gesture. When the cold prick of a needle suddenly disturbs him, he kicks out and is satisfied to feel his foot connect with something soft, followed by a sharp ‘Oof!’, but soon, sleep steals over him and pulls him down into that deep abyss where nothing is tangible and everything is blissfully blank and black.

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