Summary

Part One, “Flights,” Chapter Two: New York, 1994. Deo struggles to find ways to live comfortably and safely in New York. With Mohammed’s help, he starts to become familiar with the routes and ways of the subway, and also finds his way to a friendly community of Senegalese in Harlem, who let him use their bathroom and leave his suitcase there. Soon after Deo’s arrival, however, Mohammed returns to Senegal, taking Deo to live in another abandoned building. Life there soon becomes too violent for Deo to be comfortable, and he starts spending more and more time in Central Park, where he learns the ways of the homeless. He also learns the ways of other African immigrants, including the ways to get people to make phone calls home from public pay phones. On one such phone call, he learns that civil unrest and...