“Darioush. Javaneh said you’re on the soccer team this year.”
“Yeah.”
“How’s it going?”
“Good. We’re six and one.”
And Landon said, “He’s the best defender on the team.”
I blushed and shook my head.
“Of course he is! Persians are excellent at soccer. It’s genetic.”
As a doctor—a quintessential Persian profession if ever there was one—Javaneh’s dad was always claiming things were genetic.
Dr. Esfahani accepted a big piece of tah dig without argument—he was clearly still shaken up by his near-miss with the rice—and moved down the line toward the kabob.
I served Javaneh’s mom, who was also a doctor—a PhD, who taught physics at Portland State—and then Javaneh’s two brothers, who were still in middle school.
When our first tray of tah dig ran out, I took it and a couple other empties to the back. Mom was in the kitchen too, refilling huge thermoses of tea from the hot water spigot on the coffee maker.
“Oh, Darius. Can I talk to you for a second?”
“Yeah, sure. Are you doing okay?”
Mom nodded. She’d made it through the day so far without smudging her mascara.
I had already cried four times myself.
“What’s up?”
Mom pursed her lips for a second.
“You know, a lot of our guests are more... traditional Iranians.”
“I know.” I held up my hands, nails out.
Mom’s eyes fell.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
Mom looked at me like she wanted to say something else, but Oma stuck her head in. “We’re almost out of kabobs.”
“I’ll get some.” I turned back to Mom. “Have people been saying things about Oma and Grandma?”
“No. You know Iranians. They’ll just mutter to each other.”
“Okay.”
Mom grabbed my arm.
She looked at me for a moment.
“Make sure Landon gets enough to eat. It was sweet of him to come.”
Once the line had died down, I helped Landon make a plate. It was his first true chelo kabob experience, so I showed him how to make the most of it: layering his plate with bread to soak up the juices, explaining the different philosophies for rice (butter or no butter, mixed with chopped-up grilled tomato or not), introducing him to sumac as a seasoning.
