Flying Tigers

Back before any civil wars or coups, I lived in Kabul with my father Ali as a servant to Amir and Baba. My favourite memory from that time was a battle with a Caspian Tiger. That day was a beautiful sunny day in Kabul and the sun was roasting Amir and me.

We decided to take a swim in Ghargha Lake, just outside of Kabul. I, of course, thought that Baba and Ali would be furious with us because we went swimming in the lake without proper supervision. I could never deny Amir anything in those days, though. So off we went down the main road. Past the cinema where we would watch westerns and the corner store where we would buy warm Coca-Cola. After we had walked down the main road, we went out the city gate and headed towards Ghargha Lake.

Once we left the city gates, it felt as if the power of the sun had multiplied in intensity, and it was searing our skin. It felt as if we were running through, Jahannam. Amir and I hurried towards the lake, which was only a couple of minutes away from us at this point. Each step in the sand towards the lake burnt our feet and made us run even faster. By the time we got to Ghargha Lake, our feet felt as if they were on fire, and we just had to jump into the cool waters of the lake.

Amir and I jumped into the cool water with a mighty splash, and we both sighed as the cool water did wonders to our burnt bodies. We started to swim around the lake when we saw it. It was a gigantic 500 lb (226.8 kg) Caspian Tiger named Big Turk. Big Turk had escaped from the Kabul zoo one month prior, and he was extremely dangerous to the public. The tiger let out a tremendous roar which shook the Earth. We just got out of the lake when Big Turk entered, so we had plenty to make a good plan to beat Big Turk. Big Turk swam like a professional swimmer with impressive speed.

Quick as lightning, Amir and I gathered as many rocks as possible for the rapidly approaching battle. With the tiger reaching around the halfway point in the lake, we started hurling rocks as hard as possible at Big Turk. No matter how hard we threw the rocks, though, it never seemed to do anything to Big Turk. The rocks seemed to just bounce off his fur. With the tiger rapidly approaching our position I picked up the biggest rock I could and with a mighty war cry I launched it at Big Turk's head. With a thunderous thud, the tiger's head impacted the water.

Amir and I thought the encounter was over, but suddenly Big Turk rose up again. His subsequent roar rattled our very bones and paralyzed us for a moment. Big Turk then started swimming even faster towards us! We ran to the dock where locals and tourists alike usually finished, but nobody was there to help us. Amir found an old metal pipe to fight with, while I found a strong cherry branch. By this time, the tiger was running towards us like a bullet, and Amir and I readied our weapons just in time to clash with Big Turk.

The battle renewed, with Amir swinging his metal pipe as hard as he could at the tiger's greasy maw. With a piercing crack, one of Big Turk's front teeth broke off, and the tiger looked stunned. Before the tiger had time to react, I bashed my branch over its head with a surprising amount of power. Then we ran towards while Big Turk was still stunned. When the tiger turned towards us, I thought we were going straight to Allah.

Just when I thought the tiger was going to kill us, a big truck came out of nowhere and hit it. Big Turk went flying. He collapsed in a heap and let off one final growl and closed his eyes forever. I sat there with my hand around my knees. I first gazed at Big Turk and then across Ghargha Lake. Then Amir and I turned towards the lone man getting out of the truck. It was one of those hippies that Amir told me all about. He approached us then said, "hey there little dudes, normally I wouldn't hurt animals, but when I saw you dudes getting pumped I had to help."

"Jump in the pollution machine, and I'll get ya back to your base."

Amir and I then jumped into the bed of the hippies truck, and it started to back up. The journey back to Kabul was had in silence because Amir and I were very tired from our battle with Big Turk. The hippie dropped us off on main street.

"See ya later, little homies. I'm not gonna tell anyone because getting yelled at is a huge bummer."

We said our goodbyes and started off towards Amir's family estate. He entered the mansion, while I went to my father and Is mud hut. After all, in the real world, a Pashtun and Hazaras can never be true friends.