Everything Sad Is Untrue

Daniel interrupts his narrative to say that his father is coming to the United States. His classmates ask question about how it’s possible for someone to come over from Iran because of the war, and Daniel and his teacher must correct them, saying that they aren’t at war with Iran.

He remembers meeting Ali Shekari, a 17-year-old, when they are at the refugee camp in Italy. He was Kurdish, nomads who lived between Iran and Iraq. He had been injured during a chemical bombing. On the last day Daniel saw him, Ali Shekari accidentally broke his ball, which made Daniel cry because it made him feel like he couldn’t have anything that wasn’t broken. When he returned to the camp later that night, Ali Shekari had left his hat for Daniel, who, looking back, wishes he still knew Ali Shekari.

He thinks of the story of the origin of the Kurds Ali Shekari told him, in which a king with snakes for shoulders allowed the creatures to eat the brains of two people a day. Eventually, two heroes came and were able to help one person escape by mixing human brains and sheep brains together to feed the snakes.