Summary

Part One opens with the transcription of Document No. 1, which lists the basic information of “patient” Yehya including his residence, marital status, and occupation (2). Tarek, a doctor, reviews this file, which is marked “Suspended Pending Approval by the Gate” (3). He is named in the file, too, as Yehya’s “attending physician,” a stroke of ill luck which he considers “a thorn in his side” (3). Sabah, a busybody nurse, brings Tarek his coffee and assesses his manner; she finds him unusually curt, but acknowledges that while he may be solitary, he is very good at his job and has “a good heart” (4). Tarek continues to peruse the file, unsettled, and each time Sabah enters he hides it in his desk drawer. Even as he attends other patients, he fixates on the folder back in his office...