Nothing Is Private

[first lines]

Barry:
You're beautiful just the way you are, Jasira. Those other girls are just jealous because you're growing up faster than they are. And you're prettier than they are. Listen, don't let it get you down. Stupid names they're calling you. This year - just gimme a second [wets the razor] this year, your gonna shut them up. Only, probably you shouldn't tell your mom about this.

Gail Monahan:
[sending her off to her father] Bottom line is, Jasira, there are right ways to act around men, and wrong ways. And for you to know which is which, you should go live with one. [Jasira bursts out crying]

Rifat Maroun:
[exasperated by visit] This guy is something else. He's an Army Reservist; he thinks I love Saddam. It's an insult, I'm an American citizen.

Rifat Maroun:
[after finding out the names that Zach called Jasira] You know, her red neck of a husband will soon get called up, and then Saddam will gas him. And that will serve all of them right.

Gail Monahan:
Hey, what's with the flag?

Rifat Maroun:
Oh, I'm supporting the war.

Gail Monahan:
I thought you were protesting it.

Rifat Maroun:
I'm protesting one aspect of the war and supporting another aspect. See, the mark of intelligence, Gail, is having the capacity of holding two conflicting ideas in your head at one time.

Rifat Maroun:
[to Jasira upon arriving home from work] First your idiot of a president declares a ceasefire, even though Saddam isn't dead yet, or even captured. And then I ran over a cat, about a block way.

Rifat Maroun:
[reading the mail] Wow. Your mother's dating Colin Powell now. Good. I hope he marries her. What a hypocrite. How are you supposed to learn anything anyhow?

Rifat Maroun:
I have to go to Thena's...

Jasira Maroun:
[about girlie magazine] Women look at these pictures?

Melina Hines:
Yeah. They look at them and feel like crap.

Jasira Maroun:
Do women ever look at them and feel good?

Melina Hines:
Well, maybe. Is that how you feel? I mean, they're sexy pictures. How anyone feels when they look at them doesn't really matter. It's private. But how a kid your age got a magazine like this, that isn't private. Who gave you this?

Jasira Maroun:
[no answer]

Melina Hines:
Jasira, did an adult give you this?

Jasira Maroun:
[no answer]

Jasira Maroun:
[last line - about her father leaving the birthing room] Daddy doesn't like bodies.

Rifat Maroun:
Just so you know, we've decide not to exchange gifts this year. We are protesting the fact that Bush is waiting until after the holiday to wage war.

Gail Monahan:
Whatever you you want.

[to Jasira]

Gail Monahan:
So glad to see you.

Rifat Maroun:
[bitterly in Arabic] Sharmoota...