Summary

In Book Four, “Fall 1988 - Spring 1989,” “Goodwill,” Razia and Taslima started high school. “Taslima was going to Flushing” and Razia “was going to Stuyvesant,” a prestigious school in the city (157). The friends quickly realized they would need new wardrobes. They began sneaking to Goodwill after school. They kept these trips secret because “Buying used clothes was not something Pakistani people did” (158). One day, when Razia returned home late from a Goodwill trip, she lied to her mother about her whereabouts. The following day, when Razia returned home she discovered her mother had discarded all of her Goodwill clothes. She and her mother fought. Her mother hit her for being disrespectful. That night, Razia’s father visited her in her room. Though he tried comforting her, Razia told him she was “going to get out of here one day” (166).

In “Bethesda Fountain,” one day...