Part II: Section 39 Summary

Lester still has the gun and notices, for the first time, the food-white rice and radishes-and the three clean plates. When they reach the kitchen, Lester, thinking hard, orders them to "sit down and eat." Esmail takes his plate from the kitchen counter, takes a long look at Lester's gun, and then sits with his parents. Lester pushes clicks the gun's safetybutton back on and sticks it in his back waistband: he knows they had not harmed Kathy. He walks over to the kitchen, takes the broom, and starts sweeping up the backdoor glass he had broken when he had stormed into the house.

Part II: Section 39 Analysis

This is for Lester, as he put it, "where the rubber hit the road," where he stands-because this is where Kathy is. He cannot understand what events after that morning at...