“Momken men-fadluck ted-dini gawaz saffari?”
The protagonist of the story, Elliott, is a veteran of the Iraq invasion following the non-Iraqi attacks of 9/11. He is a wounded, honorably discharged sufferer of PTSD who has a recurring episode in which a the ghost of an Iraqi man appears at various times and places, but always saying the same thing in Arabic. This is the phrase that the man says and Elliott seeks the assistance of a professor acquaintance of his cousin who is an instructor Swarthmore College in translating the phrase so can hopefully learn its significance, if any.
“Can I please have my passport back?”
The cousin introduces Elliott to Professor Aman who immediately is fascinated by how well Elliott is able to reproduce the sounds of the mysterious phrase without actually knowing any Arabic words. When he probes further into this—in an obvious attempt to locate the origin of the phrase—Elliott is purpose vague and clearly withholding vital information. To this point, Elliott has kept his ghost a complete secret and he is no mood to make the Professor the first person he makes privy to his demons. Though some tension exists between the man, ultimately the Professor does provide him with an English translation. Unfortunately, it is not exactly a Rosetta Stone that instantly deciphers the mystery of the ghost for Elliott.
“Dissonance is still a gateway to resolution.”
As part of the lesson she is currently teaching students in music theory class, Yaz plays two compositions by the legendary jazz musician, John Coltrane. The point is to introduce students to concept of dissonant composition which she describes as Coltrane’s democratizing of notes so that they are now all equal. Equality means free. She is talking literally about Coltrane, but dissonance becomes a metaphor for human interrelationships and how resolution can still be found even amidst the seeming harsh and ugly sound by made the dissonance existing between people.
“You know what a carnation says to the world? That they were out of roses at the 7-Eleven.”
Elliott is very precise and demanding when it comes to the flower arrangement he envisions for the funeral of his de facto mother, Aunt Ginny. Specifically, he wants it to reflect her gardening sensibility, but he is also oddly insistent that there be no carnations. His explanation quoted here is easy to misread and misrepresent as his not wanting carnations anywhere in the floral scheme because they look cheaper than roses, but notice that his explanation has nothing to do with the cost differential; it is a statement about availability. The carnation doesn’t say to onlookers that they could not afford to buy roses, but that roses were simply not available at the convenience store. Anyone concerned about a price differential between the two flowers would likely not be shopping for both at a gas station. Elliott doesn’t want carnations because they represent having to settle; not having to settle for financial reasons, but having to settle for second choice. This concept of settling is a thematic strain running throughout the narrative that touches in different ways upon all the recurring characters.
