Chapter 26

Reza and Ardeshir earn scholarships to wrestle for American universities.  They welcome a surprise visitor and thoroughly enjoy a California life style.  Until the phone rings.

1. Dreams 
2. Education 
3. Grief

1. Three phone calls deliver three different messages.  Discuss each one. 
2. Do you agree with Mostafa’s request for Ardeshir to wait until Reza is done with his exams?
3.  How does Reza’s aunt help his family?
4. Reflect on the cultural significances of the softball game.
5. What are the challenges that Reza faces in his quest to save his family?

Use your entire paper and draw the outline of a head.  Inside the outline, draw pictures and write words/short phrases to reflect the many emotions Reza experiences in this chapter.

1. The doors cracked open and Reza had to steady himself against Ardeshir.  Faceless people filed off and Reza feared that maybe Hassan had changed so much he missed him.  Ardeshir smiled. “No, there’s a lot more people coming. Just rela..oh, there he is!  Hassan!  Hass!! Get over here you rat!”
2. “Naneh!  Naneh!  I got in!  I’m going to college!  I’m…I’m… Naneh,  oh please god let me talk to her, please one more time…please, let me hug you, let me see you, please Naneh, please don’t leave us, not now, please….”  
3. “Not in Turkey…in Turkey you’re runaway Iranian with a false passport.  Again, they will pat you down, and if they find the passports, you’re a smuggler and they will take you to jail.  If you even get that far, if they haven’t seen you’re not a US Mexican.”  Rasha walked in and froze at Reza’s pale face. “Habbib, what are you telling Reza?”  Habbib reached over and patted Reza’s hand, “The truth.”

A story may have more than one plot called subplots.  The rising action in a plot is where the protagonist faces conflicts as the story moves toward the climax.    The night Reza defects is the climax of one subplot.   Describe the conflicts Reza faces in the rising action of the subplot involving his family. 

Against the dramatic landscape of world altering events, Reza’s heroric journey unfolds.