Chapter 22 Summary, Analysis, and Study Notes

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

The chapter is a single email from Zachariah Miller to Sara Hussein, sent from a motel room about a hundred miles from the New Mexico border. Zachariah writes to Sara after learning she is in preventive detention at the Madison facility. He explains that he was in Los Angeles the previous day to pick up a vintage Ford Bronco, which the seller refused to ship through regular channels, and he took the opportunity to visit Sara's father, Uncle Omar, in Pasadena.

Zachariah describes the neighborhood as looking different from when they were children, with noncombustible roofs and metal cladding on buildings, but Sara's house itself has changed little. He walks up the brick pathway and feels as if he is traveling back in time, recalling how they used to play on the street while their mothers smoked on the porch. Uncle Omar, who now uses Exo-Legs after a stroke, greets him. Zachariah hadn't known about the stroke, and he notes that Omar is still mentally sharp.

They sit on the checkered sofa, drink mint tea, and talk about old times. Omar shows Zachariah photographs of their mothers in high school and a portrait of all the kids from a trip to Mirror Lake, when Saïd was still alive. Zachariah remembers that Sara was angry at Saïd for breaking her front tooth, so she was paired with Zachariah for fishing, and they caught a large rainbow trout. When Zachariah asks about Sara's news, Omar tells him what happened at LAX.

Omar believes Sara's detention is her own fault, attributing it to her