All We Have Left

Jesse is sentenced to perform community-service hours at the Islam Peace Center after having been arrested for defacing the building with graffiti. She dreads doing so, but is grateful to have avoided the Juvenile Detention Center to which Nick was sentenced. Yalda, the woman who runs the Peace Center, explains that they are holding a Teen Outreach session. She treats Jesse just as another member of the group. Jesse tries to avoid eye contact, noting that “I’ve gotten used to the disgusted looks, because it is what I’ve been seeing from friends and strangers alike for months” (135). The group is comprised of both Muslim and non-Muslim teenagers; they discuss the concerns and prejudices experienced by members of the religion. One young woman, while discussing the 9/11 terrorists, states that “[…] why don’t they understand that we think it’s horrible, too?” (137).

As the session ends, Yalda notes that a survivor of the World Trade Center attacks will visit the Peace Center soon, and asks for artists to design posters to promote the event. A college girl sarcastically calls out that the “new girl” is known to have artistic skills; Jesse can think of no response. The door opens and Sabeen, the girl whose hijab was ripped off by Nick, enters. Her mother, Yalda, chides her for not having called to say she would be delayed. Sabeen laughingly responds that they were delayed by her brother’s “little old lady” driving techniques. Jesse is appalled to see Adam, Sabeen’s brother, looking at her coldly. 

Travis and Alia wait and hope to be rescued from the elevator, not yet realizing the scope of the disaster in which they are involved. Alia mentions that she was in the building to visit her father, and she asks Travis the purpose of his visit. He asks the purpose of her scarf, and Alia explains that the hijab connotes “purity and faith” (143). He acknowledges that he had been crying when she first saw him, and that he was afraid that she would tease him about it. Alia responds that Ayah has taught her that “[…] tears are prayers too” (145). Immediately afterwards, the pair hear a voice on an intercom announcing that “There’s been an explosion” (144). 

Jesse returns home from the Peace Center feeling “raw and unsettled” (145) to find her mother, uncharacteristically quiet and still, waiting for her in the kitchen. Jesse recalls her mother arriving to bail her out of jail after her arrest, and continually asking her “Why? Jesse, why?” (146). Jesse’s father had refused to accompany her mother to the jail.

The sole communication sent from Nick was a text to Jesse saying “Did you talk” (146); she had not responded, but the police arrested him based on Jesse’s statement. Her mother tearfully says that Jesse’s involvement in the incident was her parents fault, and that they should have talked more as a family about Travis’s death. She recalls that her husband had been “funny, brave, smart” (147) in the past, but was changed forever after losing his son, and she apologizes to Jesse about the condition of the family. She advises Jesse that she is leaving her husband and bringing Jesse to live at the apartment of her friend, Mary. Jesse is incredulous; moreover, she shocks herself by telling her mother that she does not want to leave. Her home represents her only source of security in a recently-tumultuous stage of her life.

Jesse spends the evening doing pull-ups and contemplating the fact that “Adam is Muslim” (150). She contemplates the fact that her parents are separating due to the death of Travis, and that no one has any idea as to why he was in the Trade Center on that day. She thinks that “[…] the answer to that question will answer why my family is falling apart” (151). Jesse Skypes Hank in Somalia, in order to get more information regarding Travis, leaving a message with Hank’s wife and young son requesting that Hank contact her.