Hollow Fires

It has been five days since Richard attacked Safiya. She remembers the day she gave Jawad the hand of Fatima keychain. Safiya knows that she “[can’t] change the past [...] Richard and Nate murdered Jawad. They stole his whole life” but she knows she can remember Jawad and make sure other people remember him too (344).

A news article reveals that Nate and Richard were both arrested at their homes for the murder of Jawad Ali.

Safiya provides a brief description of the oral history transcript she has included as part of Jawad’s story. In his oral history project, Jawad describes his dad’s experience as a translator during the Iraq war, and his family’s experience moving to the United States. He says that his parents always tell him, “Don’t let the hate others feel for you into your heart. In America, they say, anything is possible” (348).