Shadow

Aman opens the door, and 10 police officers burst in. They tell Aman and his mother that they are under arrest for being illegal asylum seekers. They give them only minutes to pack. Aman protests that England is their home, but the police officers treat him roughly. His mother is on the verge of a panic attack. Aman has to leave most of his possessions behind, but he does manage to bring his silver star, which is in his pocket. The police officers bring them down to the street, where their arrest is witnessed by neighbors, including Mir, Mina, and Matt. Aman manages to tell Matt that he is being sent back to Afghanistan. The police pull Aman by the arm the whole time. His mother is experiencing a panic attack, but the police think she is faking it. They shove Aman and his mother into separate compartments in a waiting van. Aman can hear Matt crying outside.

Aman tries to console his mother, but her panic attack is getting worse. Aman protests, kicking and screaming until the police relent and let him be with his mother. At the migration center, the officials want to separate them. Aman refuses, and he and his mother threaten to go on a hunger strike if they are separated. In the end, the officials relent and put them in the same cell. This experience teaches Aman and his mother to never give in.

Aman explains that Yarl’s Wood is made to look friendly from the outside, for the public’s benefit, but inside, it is all locked doors and guards—a prison. Aman is incredulous that the government would throw them in prison. His mother cries for the first few days. Mir visits and tries to work with a lawyer to get them out. He has a heart attack, and this news sends Aman’s mother spiraling further. The doctors inject her with a sedative. 

In the present, Aman tells Grandpa that his mother told him that if she goes back to Afghanistan, she will kill herself. One week ago, the officials told them that they were to be flown back to Afghanistan that very day. Aman and his mother fought so hard that the guards forced them down and handcuffed them. They dragged them into the plane, but, in the end, they relented because Aman’s mother did not give up fighting. They were taken back to Yarl’s Wood. Aman’s mother said that his father and grandfather would be proud that they did not give up.

Aman tells Grandpa that the officials will try to take them back to Afghanistan any day now, but they will not give in. His mother agrees. Grandpa realizes that she understands everything Aman says in English. Aman explains that they agreed that he would only speak to his mother in Dari so that he would not forget their language. However, Aman thinks they should speak English because, to him, they are English now.

Aman’s mother thanks Grandpa in English. Grandpa is distracted by a young girl in a pink dress in the visiting room. Every time the exit door opens, she rushes to it, as if to escape, only for it to slam shut in her face. Grandpa gets up and tells Aman and his mother that he will be back. He shakes hands with Aman, who secretly presses his star badge into Grandpa’s hand.

Back outside, Grandpa finds Matt and Dog waiting. He gives Matt Aman’s badge. On the way home, he recounts Aman’s story. He cannot get the little girl in the pink dress out of his mind. Matt says that Aman never told him about his struggles. He has even seen Ahmed’s red train.

They are silent for the rest of the drive home. Grandpa feels hopeless; he tells Matt that he does not think there is anything they can do. Matt says that there has to be something, and they will find it.

As Matt listens to Grandpa recount Aman’s story, he feels hurt that his best friend has never told him any of it. As they drive, the hurt turns into anger about how Aman and his mother are being treated in Yarl’s Wood.

Matt comes up with a plan, and he suspects that Grandpa is already thinking about something similar. Over tea, he suggests that Grandpa should write a journalistic piece about Aman and his mother. If others hear their story, they will be just as angry as Matt and Grandpa. People might even protest. Grandpa thinks about it, and he then agrees. He calls his old newspaper editor but returns downcast. The editor was enthusiastic, but Grandpa only has two hours to produce a 1,500-word story if it is to run in tomorrow’s paper. Matt encourages him, reminding Grandpa of the times he told Matt to stop procrastinating on his homework. Grandpa smiles and gets to work.

Grandpa lets Matt read the piece when he is finished. The piece brings tears to Matt’s eyes. The newspaper likes it, too; within half an hour, Grandpa receives an email saying that they will print the story as is on the front page, with Grandpa’s headline, “We want you back” (84), and the byline that calls for people to protest outside Yarl’s Wood.

Matt calls home to tell his parents what happened. After talking to Grandpa on the phone and hearing Aman’s story, Matt’s mother and father want to help. They contact everyone they know and ask them to come out to protest in support of Aman and his mother. Matt’s mother, who was an activist in college, is fired up. Matt’s father tells him that he is proud of him—something that Matt is not sure he has ever heard from his father.

Matt and Grandpa let Matt’s parents take care of organizing the protest. They get to work making signs and banners. Matt comes up with the slogan “WE WANT AMAN BACK,” while Grandpa paints, “LET OUR CHILDREN GO” (84). It takes a long time, and Dog keeps walking over the banners, leaving smudgy paw prints. Before bed, Grandpa and Matt sit together watching the stars. Matt counts six shooting stars, squeezing Aman’s star badge in his pocket the whole time.

Matt and Grandpa leave early in the morning for Yarl’s Wood. They have their banners in the trunk. They pick up copies of the newspaper, with Grandpa’s story on the front page, hoping that it will cause a stir. However, when they arrive, they are the only ones there. They hold up their banners anyway, but, even after an hour, the only people who notice them are the Yarl’s Wood guards.

Grandpa tells Matt to give it time; he is sure that more people will come. Matt gets frustrated and snaps at Grandpa. Ashamed, he leaves to take Dog for a run. When Matt returns, thinking of a way to apologize to Grandpa, the police drive up. However, the police dismiss them, saying, “Nothing to worry about. Just two of them and a dog” (87). The police ask what they are doing. To Matt’s surprise, Grandpa angrily explains. Matt asks them how they would like it if their best friend were locked up. The police say that they can stay and protest as long as they do not become a public nuisance. They park nearby and continue to watch.

Matt starts to give up hope that others will arrive, but after sharing a thermos of tea with Grandpa, he starts to feel better. Grandpa tells Matt to give Aman’s star a great squeeze because this is what Aman would do when things looked bleak. As Matt squeezes the star, a black taxi emblazoned with “Mir’s Motors of Manchester” pulls up. Uncle Mir, looking frail but determined, gets out with his family. They thank Matt and Grandpa for all they are doing.

Mina scolds Mir for going against the doctor’s orders, but his family helps him settle into a wheelchair. He tells Matt and Grandpa that Aman is like a son to him and reveals a part of Aman’s story that Grandpa’s article left out: Aman wrote to Sergeant Brodie twice—first to visit Shadow and then to ask for his support for their bid for asylum. Sergeant Brodie never replied. That was hard for Aman to take, but he was never angry with the sergeant. Mir wants to give Sergeant Brodie a piece of his mind.

As Mir gets increasingly upset about Sergeant Brodie ignoring Aman, Matt sees his father’s car approaching, along with a convoy of a dozen or more of their friends. Grandpa, Matt, and Dog jump for joy as Aman’s soccer team arrives with their coach, parents, teachers, and other students. They hold up the banner from the photograph they sent Aman. Journalists and news reporters arrive, and by the afternoon, nearly all of Matt’s friends and family have arrived.

Over a hundred people gather to protest. Aman’s teammates Flat Stanley and Samir get the crowd chanting, “We want Aman back!” (91). Extra security gathers behind the gates at Yarl’s Wood. Thanks to Grandpa’s article and the news coverage, news of the event has spread far and wide, and the crowd grows. More police officers arrive, some with dogs, which Dog does not like.

It begins to rain, diminishing the crowd’s enthusiasm. To Matt’s surprise, Grandpa starts singing “Singing in the Rain,” and the crowd joins in, singing, dancing, and laughing. Some of the police smile, too. Despite the sudden joy, they are still at a standoff: Aman and his mother are still locked up, and more police arrive.

As the protest begins to fizzle out and Matt becomes disheartened, the rain finally stops, and the sun comes out. Grandpa points out a double rainbow, which he says is a sign of good luck. An officer with a bullhorn gets the crowd’s attention: He informs them that Aman and his mother were taken from Yarl’s Wood that morning to be put on a flight to Kabul.

The police officer tells the crowd to disperse and go home. Matt is crushed. He cries, and he hears Aman’s teammates sobbing as well. In the midst of their despair, a car arrives. A girl with a brown and white spaniel emerges, followed by a man in a khaki uniform who is decorated with medals and walking with a cane. Matt realizes that it is Sergeant Brodie and Shadow. Recognizing him from Grandpa’s article, the crowd begins to cheer.

Sergeant Brodie introduces himself and his daughter, Jess. Shadow and Dog greet each other excitedly. Sergeant Brodie apologizes for being late. Grandpa says that it is too late; Aman and his mother are gone. Jess informs them that all airplanes are grounded due to a huge cloud of ash from a volcanic eruption in Iceland.

Sergeant Brodie explains what happened. When he read Grandpa’s piece, he immediately contacted his regimental commander, who already knew of Aman from the incident with the bomb. Thanks to Sergeant Brodie’s Military Cross medal, he was able to speak with the minister in London. The minister agreed that Aman and his mother are a special case and stopped their deportation. Sergeant Brodie has already spoke to Aman and his mother, and they are on their way back home. As the news spreads, the crowd cheers. People cry with joy and sing “Singing in the Rain.”

An hour later, a car drives up, bringing Aman and his mother. Aman immediately runs to Shadow, who recognizes him and joyously licks his face. Aman says that he knew she would remember him. Sergeant Brodie holds out his hand to Aman. Aman quietly says that he wrote to him but the sergeant never wrote back. Brodie says that he never got Aman’s letters.

Sergeant Brodie touches his head, as though in pain. He explains that he has been in and out of the hospital. He was gravely injured in an IED explosion in Afghanistan when Shadow was not there to forewarn him. It cost him an arm, a leg, and his eyesight. Shadow has been his eyes ever since. He says that after he told his daughter about Aman, they officially changed Polly’s name to Shadow. Aman apologizes for blaming Sergeant Brodie. The sergeant tells him that it was the war’s fault and that in a way, he was lucky: Many soldiers did not make it back alive. Aman’s mother wheels Uncle Mir over. Aman notices Matt for the first time and smiles, and Matt gives him back his silver star.

That evening, Matt and Grandpa sit next to Grandma’s tree. Matt feels sad: This was the best day of his life, and he knows there will not be others like it. Dog, resting at Matt’s feet, looks sad, too; he misses Shadow. Grandpa says that the stars are wonderful. Matt agrees, but he thinks volcanoes are better.