A flashback to Misbah’s past in Pakistan reveals her memory of the first time she met Toufiq, her then-fiancé and Salahudin’s future father. They talked at a tea shop while Misbah’s brother, Faisal, chaperoned. Misbah shared her dream of owning a restaurant or inn as a way to “gather the stories of everyone who passes through” (47).

They spoke candidly with one another, and Toufiq encouraged her dream and shared his dream to one day visit Yosemite. He quoted John Muir’s descriptions of El Capitan, Clouds’ Rest, and Half Dome. They also talked about children, and Toufiq worried he would be more like his mother than his father as a parent.

In the present, Salahudin and Abu arrive at the cemetery for Ama’s funeral. Sal breathes in and out slowly, a breath exercise he often does, and tries to avoid thinking about the reality of the situation—that they are there to bury Ama. Sal feels resentment towards his father; Salahudin wasn’t with Ama when she died because he was home taking care of a drunken Abu.

Imam Shafiq, the local mosque leader, and his wife, Khadija, are there and help Salahudin and his father.