Amir, recalling back to the idyllic days of his college youth, pictured himself once again sitting quietly on a familiar neighborhood rooftop. He often enjoyed relaxing there, alone or with friends, while watching the colorful fluttering prayer flags on rooftop poles, especially in the warmth of an early evening breeze, as wispy clouds drifted against the jagged Himalayan backdrop. He has oft-times wondered, ever since his childhood, if the prayers to the spirits of the dead, flying out from those slowly tattering rags, will ever really be answered. Perhaps it will be in another place, in another time, when we’re living another life that we shall finally know. Amir had calmly thought at the time. He was that sort of philosophical guy.

One In an Eleven Million