Summary

Aaliya admits she identifies most with the philosopher Spinoza. Lost in her thoughts, Aaliya almost steps in a large hole in the pavement. She feels off balance and hears bells ringing again. She forces herself to continue walking. When she reaches her mother’s apartment she knocks on the door but doesn’t ring the bell. She listens, hoping no one is home before she rings the bell. A teenaged girl opens the door. Aaliya tells her that she wants to see her mother. The girl calls for her grandmother. When the sister-in-law who had been at Aaliya’s apartment the previous day appears at the door, Aaliya tells her that she only wants to pay a visit. Her sister-in-law treats her hatefully and Aaliya wonders what she’d done to deserve such hatred from the woman. When Aaliya suggests she thought her...