The Septembers Of Shiraz

Isaac is at home, where he cries and has a bath, but doesn’t let Farnaz see his scars. While the couple eats together, Isaac tells Farnaz he was accused of being a Zionist spy, and that he gave the guard all their savings except the money in Switzerland. Farnaz tells him about Morteza and the looting. Isaac goes to lie down, leaving Farnaz feeling lonely in the kitchen. Later, lying next to her sleeping husband, she recalls her parents’ first reaction to Isaac: “And what will people say? That a daughter of ours has married one of the Amin children? Such shame!” (263). Isaac’s father had a bad reputation, and her parents knew about his having passed syphilis onto his wife. Her father had detailed Isaac’s family history: their downfall from being a noble family. Farnaz’s parents had agreed, though, that Isaac “would be the one to resurrect the Amins’ old glory” (264). However, Farnaz reflects, he has lost it again.

Shirin sees her father for the first time, asleep and shrunken on his bed. Habibeh and Abbas, the gardener, bring a sheep and kill it in the garden for a celebratory meal. Abbas is also shocked by Isaac’s changed appearance.