Zeitoun: Part 3: Friday September 9 Summary & Analysis

Kathy has overheard her daughters talking to Yuko’s kids about their dad being lost and their house submerged underwater, and she decides she has to lie to her children for the first time. She tells them that she heard from Zeitoun last night. Though they are initially skeptical, they believe her, or at least want to.

The phone rings again and Aisha, another sister of Zeitoun’s, calls to ask where he is. Kathy calmly tells her that he is fine. But she goes online and immediately sees that while the current death toll is around 118, Mayor Nagin thinks it may climb into the thousands. Checking her email, she sees that Ahmad has included her in a message to another aid agency. Kathy calls the Claiborne house again and again. When she puts the kids to bed, she says that they’ll have new sheet sets in all the bedrooms when they redo the house.

Walt calls and says that he’d spoken to a friend, a U.S. marshal, who had driven towards Zeitoun’s house but couldn’t reach it because of the water. He tells Kathy he’ll call a friend with a helicopter.

All day Zeitoun’s family calls from Lattakia, Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere, asking why Kathy hadn’t heard him yet, and updating her on the news (which she can’t bear to watch), which talks of looting, rapes, and murders. She realizes that the media must be putting a hysterical spin on the situation, but still feels helpless. Syria is so much safer, they tell her: she should move back there.

Kathy goes into the bathroom and realizes that for the first time a stripe of white hair is rising from her forehead. Yuko forbids Kathy to answer the phone when there’s a call from Syria. Yuko answers instead.

That day, Yuko and Ahmaad take Kathy and the kids to Veterans Memorial Coliseum, where the Red Cross has set up a shelter and had representatives from missing-persons agencies. Kathy brings information and a photo of Zeitoun. The Red Cross takes down all the information, telling Kathy that thousands of people have been located, and order is being restored every day. Kathy leaves somewhat cheered, thinking Zeitoun might be at a hospital, injured, and it won’t be long before they find him. But now the kids are confused about where their dad really is. Kathy tries to shield them, but feels weak.

Kathy calls Claiborne again, and then the phone company to ask if the lines are down. They say that if it’s ringing, it works, but there’s no one to answer.

Aisha seems most affected, alternately worried, resigned, and irritable. That night Kathy brushes her hair to comfort her, and in response to Aisha’s questions tells her that Zeitoun is not dead or drowned. Kathy realizes that Aisha’s hair is coming out in clumps as she brushes it. Kathy can’t imagine what could be worse than this.