In “Chap­ter Four­teen” of *If These Wings Could Fly*, the scene unfolds in the bustling Auburn Din­er on a Sat­ur­day morn­ing, a place where the aro­ma of pan­cakes fills the air and fam­i­lies gath­er for break­fast. The pro­tag­o­nist reflects on her fam­i­ly lega­cy in Auburn, tied to her grand­fa­ther’s con­struc­tion busi­ness, which built many build­ings in town, includ­ing their own home. This lega­cy, while sub­stan­tial, rais­es ques­tions about the dual­i­ty of peo­ple’s lives—how they present them­selves out­ward­ly com­pared to their inter­nal real­i­ties.

As the fam­i­ly eager­ly awaits their food, the wait­ress Chris­tine greets them warm­ly, reflect­ing a cama­raderie that con­trasts with the fam­i­ly’s under­ly­ing ten­sions. Her invi­ta­tion to join a girls’ night out is met with a quick refusal from the father, Jesse Barnes, who has been increas­ing­ly iso­lat­ing his wife from friends. This dynam­ic high­lights the strain with­in the fam­i­ly, point­ing to a pat­tern of sup­pres­sion and con­trol from Jesse.

The chap­ter intro­duces Offi­cer DiMar­co, a long-lost friend of Jesse, whose vis­it brings a fleet­ing moment of nor­mal­cy. How­ev­er, a sud­den rev­e­la­tion about Jesse’s lost bid for a sig­nif­i­cant library ren­o­va­tion con­tract shifts the atmos­phere. While Jesse attempts to brush off the news with a non­cha­lant atti­tude, the ten­sion between him and the moth­er becomes pal­pa­ble, as his hand on her shoul­der betrays more than a sup­port­ive ges­ture; it shows the strain of con­trol in their rela­tion­ship.

As the chil­dren, includ­ing the nar­ra­tor, observe their par­en­t’s facade of hap­pi­ness, they too fall into the act, nod­ding and smil­ing in response to their father’s remarks. The narrator’s inner tur­moil esca­lates as the meal, once a source of com­fort, turns bit­ter in her mouth. The chap­ter clos­es on a poignant note, as the pro­tag­o­nist, over­whelmed by the night­mar­ish real­i­ty masked by the morn­ing’s false charm, rush­es to the restroom to vomit—not just the break­fast, but the sor­row and fear lurk­ing beneath the sur­face. This stark con­trast between the pub­lic dis­play of nor­mal­cy and the pri­vate agony encap­su­lates the fam­i­ly’s strug­gles and the pro­tag­o­nist’s qui­et rebel­lion against their oppres­sive dynam­ic.

In Chap­ter Four­teen of “The Choco­late War,” John Sulkey pre­pares to par­tic­i­pate in the school’s choco­late sale, a task he enjoys as it allows him to engage with com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers and earn recog­ni­tion. Each year, he metic­u­lous­ly cre­ates a list of reli­able cus­tomers, includ­ing his Aunt Agnes, Father O’Toole, the Thorn­tons, and oth­ers, all eager to sup­port a good cause, even as he antic­i­pates the extra pres­sure from the increased quo­ta set by Broth­er Leon. This year, the goal is fifty boxes—much high­er than before.

As John reflects on his past achieve­ments, par­tic­u­lar­ly win­ning a spe­cial award for his sales efforts the pre­vi­ous year, he feels a sense of con­fi­dence and moti­va­tion. How­ev­er, in class, the atmos­phere is tense as stu­dents await their turn to report their sales. Laugh­ter fills the room, but it is a thin veil over the anx­i­ety sur­round­ing Jer­ry Renault, who has been stead­fast in his refusal to par­tic­i­pate in the sale.

The chap­ter shifts focus to Tubs Casper, who hus­tles through his neigh­bor­hood, des­per­ate to sell choco­lates for dif­fer­ent reasons—money for a gift for his girl­friend, Rita. Fac­ing his own strug­gles, Tubs is deter­mined to sell enough to buy a bracelet for her birth­day, feel­ing the pres­sures of ado­les­cence and long­ing for affec­tion inter­twined with finan­cial strug­gles.

Mean­while, Broth­er Leon seems increas­ing­ly agi­tat­ed with the sale’s progress, demon­strat­ing a wor­ry­ing inten­si­ty regard­ing the stu­dents’ per­for­mance and sales fig­ures. Bri­an Cochran, the class trea­sur­er, expe­ri­ences anx­i­ety about his account­abil­i­ty and how quick­ly Broth­er Leon’s mood can shift, indi­cat­ing an unset­tling dynam­ic in their class­room.

As the chap­ter unfolds, the stress­es of the choco­late sale weigh heav­i­ly on the stu­dents, reveal­ing both their desires for recog­ni­tion and the per­son­al bat­tles they face, inter­twined with themes of loy­al­ty, pres­sure, and the com­plex­i­ties of teenage life.

In Chap­ter Four­teen of “The Bread­win­ner,” Par­vana encoun­ters a cry­ing woman in a dark set­ting. Ini­tial­ly star­tled yet sup­port­ive, Par­vana intro­duces her­self and dis­clos­es her secret of pre­tend­ing to be a boy named Kaseem to earn mon­ey. The woman, how­ev­er, remains silent, prompt­ing Par­vana to sug­gest they leave togeth­er for com­fort, as she has a friend, Mrs. Weera, at home who could help. The woman, lack­ing a burqa, con­fess­es to being out­side with­out one, which could attract trou­ble. Par­vana plans to fetch a burqa for her, but the woman, fright­ened, grips her arm tight­ly.

In a moment of com­pas­sion, Par­vana shares her food with the woman, con­vinc­ing her that they will wait until it’s dark before head­ing out to avoid draw­ing atten­tion. They find a secure spot near the door to stay hid­den as the night approach­es. Par­vana reflects on how Kab­ul has changed over the years, con­trast­ing the city’s past vibran­cy with its cur­rent murky dark­ness due to the ongo­ing war and cur­few.

When the dark­ness arrives, Par­vana assures the woman that it’s not far to her home, and togeth­er they nav­i­gate the treach­er­ous streets, care­ful to avoid patrols and the threat of the Tal­iban. Upon arriv­ing, a relieved Mrs. Weera wel­comes them, offer­ing sup­port and food as she exam­ines the new­com­er, who appears to be quite young. Par­vana learns the woman’s name is Homa, who reveals she fled Mazar-e-Sharif after the Taliban’s inva­sion, wit­ness­ing hor­rif­ic atroc­i­ties, includ­ing the deaths of her fam­i­ly mem­bers.

Haunt­ed by Homa’s sto­ry, Par­vana is over­whelmed by the thought that her own fam­i­ly could be suf­fer­ing the same fate. Instead of seek­ing solace in hope, she with­draws into despair, lying on her toshak as a means of cop­ing. After two days of inac­tiv­i­ty, Shauzia sur­pris­es her with a vis­it, shar­ing news from the mar­ket and encour­ag­ing her to rejoin her in work. Moti­vat­ed by their friend­ship, Par­vana ris­es from her sor­row, return­ing to her dai­ly life, which feels increas­ing­ly sur­re­al amidst the chaos. The chap­ter con­cludes with Par­vana com­ing home to find that her father has returned, mark­ing the end of one trag­ic ordeal while leav­ing her to nav­i­gate the con­tin­u­ing strug­gles of war-torn Kab­ul.