Summary

Nadia plans to move out of the shanty. Instead of embracing or kissing, gestures that feel “inadequate” (215) to them, they stand facing each other and Nadia slowly walks away into the drizzling rain. One day at the food cooperative, an aggressive man places a pistol on the table in front of her. Nadia says nothing, and the man eventually leaves. Soon after, her coworkers begin to include her more in their conversations, and when she leaves the shanty, Nadia moves into a storage room at the cooperative.

The jazz scene in Marin is beginning to heat up, as is the relationship between Nadia and the head cook at the cooperative, a woman with strong arms and a powerful gaze. They begin sleeping together. At the same time, Saeed and the preacher’s daughter begin dating, though Saeed faces some resistance because his ancestors...