Summary

At the beginning of this section the narration jumps to New York City in late 2001, immediately following the terrorist attacks of September 11. Kim Burton, now a grown adult, is on a business trip to New York City from her home in Seattle. Kim is staying with her grandmother, Ilse, who has lived in New York City for several decades. Ilse now shares her apartment with Hiroko, who had flown to New York City to visit Ilse in 1998, and has remained there ever since. In the years following Sajjad’s murder in Karachi, Hiroko had lived by herself in the rural Pakistani city of Abbotabad, enjoying the natural landscapes there. The three women all talk in the living room of the apartment, and Kim wishes that she had the sort of long-term wisdom and friendship that the two older women have with each other...