Boy Overboard

As Dad carries the children into the cellar of Yusuf’s house, Jamal asks him where Mum is, and he says that they’ll meet her tomorrow in the city. Dad has hidden his taxi in an alley, and as they prepare to leave, Yusuf’s grandfather sees them off with a prayer for God to protect them, which unnerves Jamal. He tries to give his soccer ball to Yusuf since the latter’s ball was destroyed in the explosion, but Yusuf tells him to keep it, saying that he’ll “need it” where he’s going. Jamal and Bibi lie on the floor of the taxi, and Jamal assures his sister that they’ll soon find Mum and that the family will be together again, safe from the government: “We may not be in Manchester, but we’ll always be united” (51).

In the city, Jamal sees what appear to be trees, but they are actually light poles festooned with ragged strands of audio tape, a hallmark of the government’s ban on music. Dad tells Jamal and Bibi that that’s why he taught them to whistle—to annoy the government. Taking them to an abandoned shop that used to sell sodas, he tells them to wait there while he goes to find Mum. Jamal can tell that he’s worried but is placated by his promise to bring Mum back: The family always keeps its promises to each other. He says that he won’t be going far, just to the soccer stadium. Jamal and Bibi puzzle over why their parents are going to the stadium and then decide that they must have come up with the same plan as themselves: to help organize a national soccer team so that Jamal and Bibi can lead the country to global victories. For this to work, Jamal realizes, he and Bibi ought to be there to demonstrate their skills.

Hundreds of people are milling around the soccer stadium, as if for a match, when Jamal and Bibi arrive. Jamal decides that the “national selectors” must be present. They look around but cannot find their parents or Dad’s distinctive red taxi with the one green door. Amazed to see the crowds being admitted without tickets, they push their way inside and up to the highest row of seats. Still unable to spot Dad or Mum in the audience or in the parking lot outside, Jamal watches as an army truck drives into the stadium and onto the pitch, leaving ruts in the field. Soldiers jump out and drag several women, their hands bound and their faces covered, from the back of the truck. Jamal tells himself that the soldiers’ guns probably aren’t loaded and that the women are just actors, warning women not to play soccer. Then, one of the women breaks loose from her captors and tries to run off the field as the spectators curse and scream at her. Jamal and Bibi recognize the way she runs: It is their mother. As they watch, two soldiers catch her, throw her to the ground, and put their guns to the back of her head. Jamal realizes that the captive women must be illegal teachers who have been brought here to be executed in public. He and Bibi run down the steps toward the pitch to try to save her. Their father’s speeding taxi crashes through the gate and careens wildly over the field, smoke pouring from its back windows. As Jamal and Bibi watch in disbelief, their father hurls burning oil cans at the soldiers, who run for cover. As Mum jumps into the vehicle’s open passenger door, the soldiers recover and shoot back, but the taxi makes a clean getaway.

Panicked, Jamal and Bibi run back to the shuttered soda shop, but their parents are not there. Jamal tells Bibi that Dad is probably making sure that he’s not being followed before he comes to pick them up. Then, the taxi pulls up, and their parents jump out to embrace them. Mum sees that they have lit a candle for her in the jeweled candlestick and thanks them. The soldiers were going to kill her as punishment for teaching. She and Dad look haunted that they were not able to rescue the other women. Dad paints his taxi to disguise it, plugging the bullet holes with chewing gum and paint. He says that to get the money for them to travel far away, he’ll have to sell the taxi. Jamal wonders if a person were to become a soccer star in another country, might they then return to Afghanistan and found a new government, “a kind and fair government that wouldn’t murder anyone?” (70). In his imagination, he asks Yusuf’s grandfather this, and the wise old man says, “Yes.”

Dad gives a truck driver all the money he got for his taxi to smuggle the family across the border, and during the hours-long drive, they hide under old sacks in the back of the truck. Jamal asks Dad where they’re going, hoping it’s a place that has a good soccer team, like Manchester or Barcelona. Dad says that he and Mum have decided on Australia. Jamal is not sure where that is, but Mum says it’s a place where people are happy and free, a “wonderful place to start a new life” (73). The truck comes to a stop, and men question the driver. After a long moment of terror for the family, the guards are bribed, and the truck continues on its way. As they leave Afghanistan, Dad chokes out the word “goodbye.” To reassure himself, Jamal reaches into their baggage to feel the soccer ball packed inside and then his mother’s antique candlestick. He thanks the ancestors for their escape and vows not to let them down.

Until they can find a way to get to Australia, Jamal and his family shelter in a huge refugee camp. He looks for a soccer pitch but can’t find one, just a sea of tents. Their own tent, made from Dad’s coat, can only shade two of them at a time. While Jamal practices soccer moves, a gloomy-looking boy about his age tries to sell him some water. Jamal asks him if he wants to play, and the boy nods and then runs away with the ball. Jamal chases him through the camp, and he drops the ball. Angered, Jamal considers catching him and giving him a “whack” but notices that the part of the camp he has strayed into is full of sick, listless people. Seeing a truck with a red cross on it, which he hopes will have doctors like those marked with a red crescent, he halts it by blocking it with his body. The driver curses at him but then softens when Jamal points to the “sick” people. He tells Jamal that those people are hungry, not sick: The expected food shipment is a week late. Hearing that Jamal is going to Australia, the driver calls to a man in the back of the truck, who speaks Jamal’s language but with an Australian accent. Jamal has never seen a person with yellow hair, blue eyes, and a red nose before, and he asks the man if they have soccer in Australia. The man laughs and says that his local team, Dubbo Abattoirs United, are “world beaters.” He also assures Jamal that Australians are allowed to be bakers, teachers, taxi drivers, or anything else they like; that there are “buckets” of food for everybody; and that everyone in Australia is happy and laughing. The only “mines,” he says, are full of gold and other precious metals. Eager to tell his family this wonderful news, Jamal looks around for their tent and discovers that he’s lost. In a panic, he runs around the sprawling camp “for ages,” finally kneeling in the dust in despair. He is some “desert warrior,” he thinks.

Inspired by thoughts of his father’s baker ancestors, Jamal imagines that if he could only bake some bread, he could solve both his problems. He’d feed the hungry refugees and attract Dad and the others with the aroma. The only ingredient he’d have trouble finding, he thinks, is salt. However, as he starts to cry, he tastes the salt in his tears and feels a surge of hope. Just then, the gloomy-looking boy who tried to steal his soccer ball reappears and offers to show him the way back to his family for a dollar. Since Jamal has no money, the boy offers to do it in exchange for the ball. Jamal clutches his ball more tightly but decides to go along with the boy, who seems to know the camp well. As they come onto one of the camp’s main roads, a modern-looking car drives up, and two well-dressed men get out. The boy pulls Jamal toward the car, saying that it’s the “United Nations” and that they give out “tickets.” Thinking that this means tickets to Australia, Jamal tries to ask them for five but is drowned out by the excited crowd. Before he can impress the men with his soccer skills, the men get back in the car and flee the crowd. Jamal, who cannot find the boy who was guiding him, wanders the camp. Then, by chance, he comes across his family’s tiny tent. His cry of joy catches in his throat when he sees that his father is surrounded by uniformed policemen.