"A Beginning of an End" Summary

The day before she plans to leave for New York, Isabel returns with her camera to wander through Sharif's house, imagining daily life. She crosses another courtyard, enters a green-domed building, and is greeted by a familiar-looking woman in blue and white garments. The woman says they have been waiting for her. She ushers Isabel to the candle-lit tomb. Beneath a window stands a tall wooden loom and near it sits an old man, Sheikh 'Isa, wearing the costume of the religious. The woman in blue disappears, and the sheikh asks whether Isabel has come to marry him. Umm Aya, a plump woman dressed in working-class black and veil hugs their rare visitor, and Isabel smells orange blossom. She declares the cloth 'Isa is weaving holds many blessings, and when Isabel admires it...