House of Sand and Fog

Early on the morning following Behrani’s outburst, Esmail comes to his father to apologize. Feeling heartened, Behrani goes to work with his cleaning crew and tells his boss he intends to quit. Afterward, he goes to work his last shift at his second job at a convenience store.

While he has endured this hard, demeaning work for his family’s sake, Behrani feels depleted by the effort: “each check cashed felt to me like one less bone and muscle in my back, those a man needs to stand straight” (48). As he says goodbye to his fellow store attendant for the last time, Behrani feels he is beginning to recover the dignity he lost over the last four years.

Elated at the promise of returning home, Kathy settles her bill with the motel and checks out the following day. After paying she returns to work as an independent cleaner. However, her good mood is cut short when Connie calls to inform Kathy that the county already sold the house. Connie says they can try to get the county to rescind the sale, but she advises Kathy to find some paperwork to support her case.

Kathy spends the next hour searching through the unsorted boxes and bags at the storage facility.