Summary

In the 37th section titled “2014, Gaza Border (Israeli side),” Shira takes a walk around the kibbutz, a communal settlement in Israel. She passes her rented cottage and admires “a sturdy desert rosebush” growing up the side of a house, across from which is the kindergarten that Shira also notes. Shira feels “enamored by the perfect incompatible-compatibility of the place” (197). The building is reinforced physically in case of attack, yet its doors stand wide open. Many families have left the area; those who remain are determined to stay.

Shira hears a bicycle bell ring out, and she steps to the side. The bicycle-rider, a young woman, brakes and hops off the vehicle. Pepper plants are attached to the bicycle’s trailer. The woman address Shira, thanking her for supporting “us,” before mounting her bicycle again (198). Shira...