The Septembers Of Shiraz

Shirin is reading her father’s old poetry books when Leila arrives at the house. She tells Shirin that her father has discovered some files are missing. Leila explains that her father suspects their friend Elaheh, and Shirin agrees that it could have been her. Leila’s father wants her to interrogate all the girls, but Leila does not suspect Shirin. Later, in bed, Shirin worries about being caught and thus causing her parents’ deaths.

Farnaz tells Habibeh about Morteza looting Isaac’s office. Habibeh is incredulous. She retorts that Farnaz always believes what she wants to and is “full of contempt” (185). In return, Farnaz accuses Habibeh of being duplicitous for not revealing what she thinks of the Amins. Habibeh quotes Morteza: “Maybe it’s time someone paid” (186). The two continue to argue, with Farnaz reminding Habibeh of how grateful she should be to Farnaz, who saved Habibeh and Morteza from poverty when he was a baby. Habibeh falls silent, while Farnaz recalls that Habibeh once told her young son: “Love is what sealed my fate as a servant” (188).

A week after he left her the flowers, Parviz and Rachel meet in Central Park to look at plants. Her daring agreement to meet him so far from home is an indication of her divided loyalties between her family’s rules and her passion for botany. Parviz tells her he has lost his roots and feels America is “vast and cold” (192). Rachel empathizes with his loneliness, admitting she knows about his father’s imprisonment. Parviz longs to kiss her. They walk on in silence.

After around a week in solitary confinement, Isaac has started to hear the sound of a child running up and down the stairs above his cell. The guard Hossein takes Isaac to shower and get some fresh air; then, he is taken to see Mohsen again. The interrogator asks him about his brother, and then opens a door through which Isaac hears a man being beaten with leather and screaming. Mohsen threatens Isaac that this is what awaits him. When Isaac does not respond to Mohsen’s questions about Israel and his brother, Isaac is dragged into the other room, laid face down on a plank, and his ankles are tied to two poles. He asks God for mercy before being lashed on his feet with a cable. He counts, and passes out. When Isaac comes to in his cell, a guard exhorts him to eat in order not to lose all his strength. Thinking of Mehdi, Ramin, and Vartan, he forces himself to eat.