Summary

Daniel and his classmates are making “goody bags for American soldiers in the war” (70). Everyone thinks Iran and Iraq are the same country. They bully Daniel for being a terrorist.

Daniel is “in love with Kelly J.” even though she is mean to him (72). He understands love is complicated and painful. It takes “hard work,” but most people quit love, like his father (74). All Persian “love stories are . . . tragedies” (76). The stories of Khosrou and Shirin, “Aziz and her husbands,” and the day Daniel broke his thumb are good examples (76). The lesson of the first is that “you can fall in love with a story . . . in your head” (79). The lesson of the second, is that people “measure other people” by the “scales in their heads” (80). The lesson of the third, is that “nobody cares if two lovers get together” (81).

Yet Daniel knows that most...