Zeitoun

When Kathy wakes up on Wednesday morning, she is particularly anxious because Zeitoun didn’t call the day before. She tries not to panic, and Yuko reassures her, but she’s still tense. She talks to friends and family, none of whom have heard from Zeitoun. With reports of crime and lawlessness on the news, Kathy becomes more agitated. She briefly thinks of going to New Orleans to look for him, and Ahmad tries contacting the TV station that interviewed Zeitoun and the Coast Guard. Zeitoun’s family from Syria begins calling her as well, and their frustration only exacerbates Kathy’s feelings of helplessness. As she prepares for bed on Thursday night, she hears her daughter Aisha say that their house is underwater and their dad is missing, and Kathy has a breakdown in the bathroom.

On Friday, Kathy decides to lie in an attempt to lift the kids’ spirits. Though they might suspect she’s lying, it’s what they want to hear, so she puts on a brave face. More family members call asking about Zeitoun, and friends call offering help and assistance when they find out that Zeitoun’s missing. With stories of murder and looting all over the news, Kathy becomes more despondent. Yuko eventually begins fielding all calls from Kathy’s relatives. Kathy, her hair turning white in patches, begins giving Zeitoun’s information to Red Cross shelters in the hopes that they can locate him if he was evacuated or injured. This action confuses her kids, however, because if their father is fine, as Kathy has assured them he is, then why is she giving his information to the Red Cross? Aisha takes Zeitoun’s disappearance the hardest and begins losing her hair in clumps.

Kathy keeps trying to think logically about what might have happened. She also, unwillingly, thinks about life insurance and living a life without Zeitoun. She continues to receive emails from Ahmad, who is contacting various agencies in an attempt to find Zeitoun. Throughout this period, the death toll in New Orleans is constantly rising and Zeitoun’s Syrian relatives become more despondent and resigned to his disappearance. Yuko finally tells Kathy to stop watching TV and checking the internet, but Kathy can’t resist. She begins thinking about all of the guns and soldiers in New Orleans, as well as the soldiers-for-hire and those coming from Afghanistan and Iraq. She’s worried that her husband is also in danger from law enforcement.

Kathy wonders time and again why Zeitoun has to be so stubborn and remembers a time when he had them walk for over four hours, all because he wanted to touch a rock far off in the distance. She had loved him for his tenacity, and she admires it in him. On Monday, September 19, after praying with Nademah, Kathy’s cell-phone rings. It’s a missionary. He tells her that he was visiting Hunt, a prison in St. Gabriel, and saw Zeitoun there.