Dawn: Driving on the Rock Creek Parkway, which snakes through a forest, Shams stopped his car under a big old oak. It was past midnight. He was scared too. He knew his brown skin may cause some to see him as a suspected terrorist. But he had to stop under this tree, so he did.
One day he saw hundreds of bats hanging on its branches. He stopped. Saw them sleeping silently. Watched them for a while and drove away.
He decided to stop here again after the sunset and see what the bats do at night.
Shams was returning from a diplomatic reception in Potomac, Maryland. It was in the honor of a visiting minister from an Asian nation. The minister spoke out of both sides of his mouth,: giving one message to the US administration and another to his nation.