Summary

Kenan continues his journey home, and his rage reaches new heights when he witnesses, firsthand, the black market of corrupt Sarajevans. The rage he feels at the injustice of his situation is directed at a random man smoking a cigarette, a man not thin enough to not be participating in the black market. Laden with all his water, Kenan irrationally moves slowly toward the man, intending to assault him. The man barely notices him, “flicks his cigarette on the ground, walks around to the other side of his car, and opens the door” of his Mercedes to leave (184–85).

Barely rational, Kenan back tracks and miraculously stumbles upon the cellist. The music immediately calms him and takes him to another place. He sees “people stand up taller, their faces put on weight and color. Clothes gain lost thread, brighten, smooth out their wrinkles” (187). The...