A Constellation of Vital Phenomena

Khassan is waiting for Akhmed in the village when Akhmed returns from the hospital. Khassan begins crying and admits that he spoke to Ramzan for the first time and begged Ramzan not to turn Akhmed over to the Feds, but it was too late. Akhmed understands that it is only a matter of time before the Feds come for him. Khassan gives Akhmed the letters he wrote for Havaa about Dokka and asks Akhmed to give them to her.

At home, Ula tells Akhmed that Akhmed’s father visited her again that day. Akhmed mistakenly thinks this is a sign that Ula is not getting better, since the man Akhmed believes was his father has been dead for 10 years.

At the hospital, Sonja notices that Havaa has been following her around, wearing a lab coat and imitating her. Finally, Havaa asks, “If they let you become a surgeon instead of a wife, would they let me become an arborist instead of a wife?” (298). Sonja assures Havaa that she can become anything she wants to be. Sonja then asks Havaa if a Russian woman named