Luckiest Girl Alive

In Chapter 15, film crew in tow, Ani visits Arthur’s mother. She and Mrs. Finnerman stayed in touch, but Ani is not prepared for the toll the tragedy has taken on her. Her sadness is in her face, her eyes, and her slouched shoulders. At the director’s suggestion, the two page through family photo albums over tea. Mrs. Finnerman insists that her boy had emotions, that he was no psychopath: “He was no monster” (294), she says, as much to Ani as to the camera. Ani agrees, saying Arthur was always kind to her. The media’s narrative from the shooting demonized Arthur as the mastermind of the attack. Ani knows differently. Arthur did not have a hit list. The shootings were not revenge or even personal. His anger was more general; he saw the two homemade bombs as a way to kill everyone: “We were all fair game” (295). When Mrs. Finnerman mentions that Arthur’s father remarried, Ani confesses that she took the framed photo and offers to return it. Arthur’s mother is incensed that Ani stole the photograph. Her outrage triggers a migraine that abruptly ends the meeting.

Ani agrees to meet her mother for dinner at a posh restaurant, her last night before returning to New York.