The Submission

Looking over the information that has been gleaned concerning Mohammad Khan, Paul sees that his record is spotless. He attended the University of Virginia and Harvard, and has spent 10 years working at top-notch architecture firms, with credit for architectural projects that even Paul has heard of. Khan’s father, an engineer at Verizon, and his mother, a teacher at a junior college, immigrated to the United States in the 1960s, when immigration requirements were relaxed for Asian immigrants. Mo recently made a business trip to Afghanistan, but he has no links to terrorism. Paul decides to list the pros and cons of allowing his entry selection to stand. Though the pro side is heavy, Paul decides that Mohammed Khan should be declared unsuitable. He refers to the dictionary to reaffirm the meaning of “unsuitable,” “appropriate,” and “fitting,” and feels justified in his decision. Just as Paul has made his decision, the phone rings. The heritage of the winner has been leaked. He races to a newsstand for a copy of the New York Post, which features Alyssa Spier’s article. The story’s sensational headline is accompanied by a threatening photograph of a Muslim man in a balaclava.

As all this occurs, Mo, now back in America, walks by a Pakistani news vendor and spots the headline on the Post.