When the Apricots Bloom

Tom and Ally walk down the street with vendors waving and inviting them in as they go. Tom scolds Ally for investigating the hospital, but Ally insists that she did not give Mrs. al-Deeb any cause for suspicion. Ally laments that she did not know her mother better and feels that she is becoming closer to her in Baghdad. Ally sees a sculpture in a shop window, and the initials on the sculpture match those on the back of her mother’s photo. The shopkeeper tells Ally that the artist is Miriam Pachachi, and Ally hides this information from her husband.

Huda picks Ally up, and Ally wants to go the Rashid Hotel, which the women know is filled with spies and informants for the regime. Ally is going to see a friend of hers from her time at the Canberra Herald, though she tells Huda that he is just an old friend. Ally also tells Huda that her mother used to dance there. She also tells Huda that she and Tom looked at paintings at Rania’s the previous night, and Huda warns Ally to be careful around Rania and the people at her gallery. Ally tries to ask more about them, but Huda does not respond.