Part I: Section 1 Summary

It is August, and a crew of Iranian, Chinese, Panamanian, and Vietnamese immigrants pick up litter alongside the road between Golden Gate Park and Sausalito. The fog is so thick that Genob Sarhang Massoud Amir Behrani, part of the California Highway department crew, cannot see in the distance the expensive apartment where he lives with his wife and son. The others are indifferent -to the former Iranian Colonel's threats that in his earlier days, he could have them beaten.

-Originally, Behrani had moved to California to find an aerospace industry job, but his litter crew job and his stint at a convenience store are the only paychecks he has found in the four years he's spent in the U.S. He thinks that, with his daughter having just made a suitable marriage, he can now leave the apartment that...