Nowhere Boy

Max shows Ahmed the forged Belgian ID he made on his computer. Although it looks good, Ahmed worries that it will not work because he needs someone to pretend to be his parent. Max tells him that they only need a voice to call the school and that he already has an idea for who to ask to help them with that. Max tells Ahmed that his family will return to America at the end of the school year, so he wants to help Ahmed while he can.

The next day, Max explains everything about Ahmed to Farah and asks for her help pretending to be Ahmed’s mother. Farah refuses, insisting that the task is too risky. Max says that he thought she would help him because Ahmed is like Farah. Although Max does not mean to insult her, Farah tells Max that she was born in Belgium and is Moroccan, not Syrian, so she is different from Ahmed. Max apologizes for assuming otherwise. Farah tells him that as a Muslim, she must work twice as hard as the white students at the school. Max understands, but he tells her that Ahmed says that “it is very important for a Muslim to help the stranger, the person that need” (167).