Summary

Murad sits behind the counter reading a book when two women enter the store. He struggles to enjoy the book although it is set in Tangier because he cannot ignore the incorrect fictionalizations. He enjoyed getting books from the American Language Center, however, because it gives him an opportunity to see his new girlfriend.

The young women in the store are searching for a wedding gift. They find a set of wooden tablets that Murad purchased at an estate sale which were used in Quranic schools decades earlier. Murad invents a story about the young boy who used the tablet. The women mention that they would like to visit a well-known tourist spot and he feels a rush of tiredness from the life he used to live, focusing on enticing tourists to visit these spots.

When Murad returned to Tangier a year earlier, he...