Zeitoun: Part 2: Thursday September 1 Summary & Analysis

Early that morning, Kathy buckles her kids into the car to drive the 1500 miles to Phoenix. She knows it’s a crazy decision, but also knows she can’t stay in Baton Rouge, and she doesn’t know when she’ll be able to return to New Orleans. On the road she calls the Claiborne house, though it’s earlier than her arranged call with Zeitoun. A gruff-sounding man enters and says that there’s no one there by that name, and then the line goes dead. Kathy begins to worry that the man has killed Zeitoun and robbed the house.

Listening to the radio, Kathy is even more scared by reports of lawlessness and a message from Governor Blanco that U.S. soldiers fresh from war will be arriving in New Orleans shortly, ready to “shoot and kill” any “hoodlums.” As her children pipe up to ask about what’s going on, Kathy shuts off the radio and tries to comfort them.

Frazzled, Kathy pulls into a rest stop and calls Yuko, who tells her to stay there. Yuko arranges for them all to spend the night at her friend’s house in Houston. Yuko’s husband Ahmaad will fly to Houston, meet them in the morning, and drive them to Phoenix. Yuko tells Kathy that they’re sisters—Yuko’s mother Kameko died last year, and now Kathy is all she has.

Zeitoun awakens to the sound of dogs howling. He immediately gets up and paddles down the street. He finds a plank with which he creates a bridge to climb up to the window of a house that seems to be the source of the barks. Inside, he finds two desperate dogs in a cage with no food or water. He lets them out, but there’s nowhere for them to go. Zeitoun returns home and removes two steaks from the freezer along with water bottles from the roof, and carries them back to the dogs. He does the same for a house down the street, where two other dogs are trapped.

Though Zeitoun notices the water is growing more contaminated, he still feels invigorated at what he’s done to help the animals, and looks forward to calling Kathy to tell her. She lets out a sigh of relief when he reaches her, and asks him who the man was. Zeitoun can’t imagine who this would be, and says it was probably a friend of Todd’s. Kathy tells Zeitoun that he really needs to leave the city, given all the looting and killing she’s heard about. But Zeitoun can’t imagine what she’s talking about. He confides that he feels like he’s meant to stay—it’s God’s will.

Setting back out, Zeitoun runs into Charlie Ray, a carpenter who lives next to the Claiborne house and who apparently has also decided to stay—this comforts Zeitoun. Whenever he sees other people, he offers help and a bottle of water or canned food, which he’s picked up along the way. He paddles up to the I-10 ramp on Claiborne, where dozens of people are waiting to be rescued. A helicopter has dropped off food and water, and the people give Zeitoun a case to give to others. Zeitoun decides not to go any closer to downtown, given what Kathy said.

Yuko, meanwhile, has arranged for Kathy and the kids to sleep at the home of a longtime friend, Miss Mary, in Houston. Miss Mary also was born into a Christian household and converted to Islam as an adult. Her home is now host to a dozen Muslim families from New Orleans. Mary hugs Kathy upon her arrival, and Kathy feels a sense of relief.

When Zeitoun returns home, he hears a helicopter approaching. He pokes his head outside to see it hovering over his house with two men signaling to him. Zeitoun tries to tell him that he’s not interested in being rescued. Finally they understand and drop bottles of water right on the tent he’s put on the roof, knocking it over. The helicopter flies away.

Zeitoun is restless and finds it difficult to sleep. He makes plans to check the office and the warehouse on Dublin Street the next day. He no longer hears dogs, only helicopters whizzing overhead.