Summary

Saeed and Nadia emerge in a bedroom. From a window, they can tell that they are in a city, on a street with white, “perfectly painted and maintained” (122) buildings. They leave the bedroom and realize that they are in a huge, palace-like house. At night, people begin to emerge from the same bedroom they left, including “a dozen Nigerians, later a few Somalis, after them a family from the borderlands between Myanmar and Thailand” (123). Saeed and Nadia claim a small bedroom for themselves, and Nadia eagerly takes a shower. When she begins to wash her clothes, Saeed criticizes her as he is unable to understand that for Nadia clean clothes are a reminder of her worth and dignity as a human being. Saeed, when he showers, also decides to wash his clothes.

Over the weekend, the house continues to fill up with new arrivals...