“Wow,” Mom said. “This is amazing.”
Landon’s cheeks turned pink. “Thank you.”
I set the table as Mom changed into sweatpants, and we all settled to eat. Landon dished out perfect wedges of tah dig and great big scoops of stew.
“Thank you again for taking Laleh,” Mom said.
“It’s fine, Shirin,” Grandma said. “I put the papers about the gifted program on your desk.”
My ears burned.
Grandma was acting like that was all that mattered.
But Mom just nodded.
“Oh, are you doing that, Laleh?” Landon asked.
“I don’t know.” Laleh looked up at me and then down at her food. “Maybe. I guess.”
I pushed some stew onto my spoon.
“I used to do that. All the way through eighth grade.” Landon squeezed my knee under the table. “Were you in it too?”
I shook my head.
“Oh.” Landon looked down at his plate. “Well. It’s really cool, Laleh. I think you’ll like it.”
Laleh said, “Okay.”
I stared into my stew. It was verdant green, with seared chunks of beef like dark brown islands in a lush swamp.
Lots of Persian stews look like swamps, even—no, especially—the most delicious ones.
I swallowed away the lump in my throat.
I wanted to cry.
I don’t know why.
But I couldn’t cry at the dinner table.
Landon had band practice early the next morning, so we could only steal a few minutes in my room before his dad picked him up. I waved at Mr. Edwards as they drove off and then went to help Mom wash the dishes.
While we worked, Grandma and Oma planted themselves in the living room to watch reruns ofLaw & Order. The original one.
I could see where Dad got his television habits from, because they watched a single episode every night. And there were a lot of episodes ofLaw & Order.
“What did you think of the meeting?”
“I think Miss Hawn doesn’t get that Laleh’s classmates are being racist. Or maybe she doesn’t care.”
Mom sighed. “I don’t think she knows. Or at least she doesn’t know how to deal with it. But I do think she cares about Laleh.”
I chewed on my lip and dunked my sponge into the rice pot, which I had cleaned and filled with sudsy water.
Mom turned the sink back on and started rinsing again.
“Landon did a good job with the khoresh.”
