House of Sand and Fog

Lester leaves the house early in the morning to meet with Lieutenant Alvarez, leaving a note for Kathy explaining the situation in case she wakes while he’s gone. As he walks into the Hall of Justice, he runs into his friend Doug, who owns the fishing cabin. Doug challenges Lester about abandoning his marriage, saying, “All those years between you two, you’re trashing them” (292). Lester kindly but resolutely tells Doug to back off and walks toward Alvarez’s office.

Kathy wakes up feeling confused and sick. She hears the Behranis speaking in Farsi and walks out into the hallway, where she catches Lester returning home. They hug, then Lester shows her the note and explains that the family is locked in the bathroom. He confronts Kathy, asking why she doubted their relationship and what drove her to drink, threaten the gas station attendant, and attempt suicide twice. Kathy replies, “I just want things to change” (296), then says she wouldn’t have behaved so rashly if she had been sober.

Kathy is pleased that Lester has made such a dramatic commitment to their future and overjoyed to be so close to having the Behranis out of the house. Lester leads the family out of the bathroom and into the kitchen, where Behrani calls the county to say he is interested in rescinding the sale.