Darius the Great Is Not Okay: Intermix Ratio Summary & Analysis

Darius tosses his homework into the Audi’s backseat and tells Dad his backpack suffered a “Structural integrity field collapse.” The Star Trek joke makes Dad laugh, but Dad is shaking his head by the time Darius gets halfway through the story of how it happened. Dad insists that Chip is just picking on Darius because Darius doesn’t stand up for himself, even when Darius says he told Chip to leave him alone. When Dad says that Chip knows he’s getting to Darius and that’s why he continues to be a bully, Darius privately wonders if Dad acts like this because he knows he’s getting to Darius. All this extra time in the car since the bike fiasco is making their fraught relationship even worse.

Dad says that he made appointments for himself and Darius to get haircuts before the trip, but Darius refuses to go in. After insinuating that Darius would get picked on less if he cut his hair, Dad goes in alone, gnashing his teeth. When they finally get home, Dad storms up to his office and Darius steeps tea (with filtered water, which Dad hates—Dad hates everything Darius likes). Soon after, Mom and Laleh get home and Laleh joins Darius for tea. Darius doesn’t work this afternoon; Mr. Apatan gave him the week off to prep for the trip. When Darius told Mr. Apatan about the trip, Mr. Apatan asked if it was Darius’s first time “going home,” even though he knows Darius was born in Portland. But he said it’s important to know where you come from. 

Mom orders pizza for dinner. Normally, Darius loves pizza—but he can feel Dad staring at him disapprovingly, since Darius wouldn’t cut his hair and now is eating pizza with no veggies on it. Once Laleh is done talking about her day, Darius gives noncommittal answers about his, leaving out that Trent called him a terrorist. He mentions that Chip broke his backpack. Dad huffs and starts to say that it wouldn’t have happened if Darius had behaved differently, but Mom shoots Dad a look and says that Darius can borrow one of Dad’s bags for the trip.

Because there’s so much to pack, Darius and Dad don’t watch Star Trek—and neither of them feel like acting like “a real father and son.” Before long, Mom yells for Darius; Mamou and Babou are on Skype. As Darius squeezes into the frame, Mom calls him Darioush, the original Persian version of his name. It's pronounced Darr-yoosh, and it’s Darius’s goal to never let Trent learn this version of his name—the rhyming options are endless. Mamou greets Darius happily, but Babou just says that Darius will be here soon. Darius studies his grandfather. He looks the same as he always does, and yet, apparently he’s dying. Darius is sad and feels awful, but he doesn’t know how to express that. And it feels weird to say he’s excited to meet his grandfather, his flesh and blood, for the first time.