House of Sand and Fog

Lester drives Kathy to retrieve her car on his way to meet with a couple of lawyers in the city on her behalf. After they part ways, Kathy imagines how her recovery counselors would regard her life now: “I knew they would call the drinking a slip, the smoking a crutch, and the lovemaking ‘sex as medication,’ and the house fiasco a disaster my lack of recovery had invited upon itself” (146). She refutes these imaginary voices, resolving to look toward the bright future she imagines sharing with Lester.

She visits the post office, where she receives a letter from her mother informing her that she and Kathy’s aunts plan to visit San Francisco soon. Kathy lies in her reply, explaining that she and Nick will be out of town and her phone line isn’t working.

She decides to drive past the house and catches Behrani showing it to a father and his young son. Enraged, she yells at them, honks her horn, and drives away as Behrani tries to smooth things over with the prospective buyers.

Nadi returns from an outing with Soraya, bringing back several pieces of clothing that she assures Behrani were purchased on sale. Behrani is still furious about Kathy’s interruption.