House of Sand and Fog

Elated at the promise of returning home, Kathy settles her bill with the motel and checks out the following day. After paying she returns to work as an independent cleaner. However, her good mood is cut short when Connie calls to inform Kathy that the county already sold the house. Connie says they can try to get the county to rescind the sale, but she advises Kathy to find some paperwork to support her case.

Kathy spends the next hour searching through the unsorted boxes and bags at the storage facility. She is interrupted by Lester, who claims he was in the area and wanted to check in with her. He offers to buy her coffee, which she accepts, and the two drive to a nearby diner.

Kathy closely observes the officer’s crooked mustache and dark eyes, concluding that she “had to be looking at the most serious man [she]’d ever met” (52). Lester inquires about who owns the house; Kathy says she co-owns it with her brother Frank. Lester then shares that he is married with two children. Kathy reveals that Nick left her eight months ago, and she has concealed the news of his departure from her family.

Lester drives her back to the motel and advises her to steer clear of her house until her legal issues are resolved. Over the next couple days Kathy thinks she catches sight of Lester’s car and suspects that he is keeping a close eye on her.

Behrani shares a pizza with his family, sitting on the floor of their recently acquired home. Nadi is still angry with her husband, and Behrani worries that she will react poorly to moving again when he sells the house.

Behrani recalls an incident after their exile when Nadi accused him of collaborating with SAVAK, the Iranian secret police. This led to Behrani slapping her across the face—a moment he identifies as integral to the deterioration of their relationship.

Behrani then recalls an even earlier time when, at one of his friend General Pourat’s weekly drinking parties, he met a young officer who belonged to SAVAK. The young man claimed he was trained in America and described the gruesome techniques utilized by his organization, including child mutilation. Behrani was revolted by this man: “I did not like to think this was the manner in which our king retained his throne and our way of life […] I did not want to accept that General Pourat was correct when he said the young policeman and I were colleagues” (62).

In the present, Nadi tells Behrani she will do as he pleases as far as the house is concerned. She allows him to briefly hold her in his arms. Behrani is “certain that what just happened between [them] was an apology” (63).

Kathy works, cleaning an empty home. Afterward she calls Connie, who tells her that it might take a couple of weeks to get her house back. Even so, Kathy checks out of the motel again. She’s walking across the parking lot when she sees a car with a bumper sticker reading “First Things First” (64), which is a slogan for a 12-step recovery program.

This triggers her memories of attending recovery meetings with Nick, who was dissatisfied by the passive language used by groups like Alcoholics Anonymous . Nick preferred a program called Rational Recovery (RR), which personifies addictive tendencies, desires, and behaviors as a beast the addict must overcome with logic and reason. RR doesn’t impress Kathy, and she admits that although she has kicked alcohol and cocaine, she has started compulsively watching movies since Nick left.

As her thoughts return to the present, Kathy decides to spend the afternoon camped out in a multiplex.