Ground Zero

Taz demands that Reshmina give him back his plane. She tells him he cannot tell the Taliban about Taz because “you can’t give him refuge and take revenge on him at the same time!” (129). She tells him that the Taliban do not follow Pashtunwali anyway. They argue because Pasoon believes that things are better under Taliban rule while Reshmina thinks they are worse. Reshmina is frustrated that Pasoon listens to whatever Darwesh and Amaan say. Pasoon reminds her that the Americans killed their sister, Hila. Reshmina remembers the day of Hila’s wedding, when Hila was 16 and Reshmina and Pasoon were nine. It was a very happy day, with the whole village in attendance. The villagers shot guns into the air in celebration. In what must have been a response to the gunshots, an American drone fired a missile, causing an explosion that killed Hila.

Pasoon and Reshmina fight and wrestle over possession of the toy airplane. Pasoon tears up, tells Reshmina to just keep it, and walks away. Reshmina follows him. They pass a graveyard, and Reshmina reminds Pasoon that he will be buried, too, if he joins the Taliban. Pasoon says he would rather die fighting than die in his village for no reason. Pasoon does not want Afghanistan to be invaded or ruled by foreigners anymore. Reshmina tells him that Afghanistan is “stuck in the past” because it is always fighting wars (135).

Reshmina picks up an old cedar cone. Her father told her Afghanistan used to be covered in cedar trees. Now there are hardly any cedar trees left because all the armies that have invaded have chopped them down. She wonders if the cone could sprout again and plants a seed in the ground. When she is finished, Pasoon is already gone.

Brandon thinks it is his fault that the woman got burned because he is the one who urged her to get out of the elevator. Richard tells him it is not his fault and that in a way he saved her life since she would have died in the elevator crash. Brandon starts to cry for the people who have died and for the situation he is in. Richard tells him his dad died in Vietnam when he was nine. He tells him that this will always hurt, but it “scars over, like a bad cut” (139), and in time he will be able to forget about it sometimes.

They go back down to the 89th floor and into Richard’s office. Brandon meets Esther, Richard’s administrative assistant, Mr. Khoury, an elderly Lebanese man, and Anson, a young blind man with a guide dog. They listen to the radio, where the DJs are making fun of how a plane crashed into the World Trade Center, joking that the pilot must have been drunk. They change the channel to a station that is taking a call from someone on the 104th floor. This gives Brandon hope that his dad is still alive on the 107th floor. Brandon grabs a phone to call his dad, shocked he did not think of doing so before.

Reshmina cannot find Pasoon anywhere. She hears a slight sound and realizes there is a small, hidden cave. She realizes Pasoon must have snuck inside it, so she goes into the dark cave. She bumps into a table and finds a lighter and a lantern, which she lights. There are weapons everywhere in the cave, from all around the world. Reshmina notices that none were made in Afghanistan, though, because “it was the big countries that made money selling weapons to the little countries” (148-49). She believes the weapons belong to the Taliban. Pasoon appears from the dark and scares Reshmina, causing her to drop the lantern. They stomp out the fire and escape the cave. Pasoon tells her that Darwesh and Amaan told him about the cave. Reshmina begs him to come home and wishes that he would not “follow so doggedly in the footsteps of all the other boys who had left home for the Taliban before him” (151). She follows him to the place she guessed he was going, the place with the Taliban rifle they have been to before. Pasoon fires the rifle to get the Taliban’s attention.

Brandon calls Windows on the World and gets through to his dad. They are both relieved that the other is alive. Brandon cries and apologizes for leaving the restaurant that morning. His dad says he could not go below the 100th floor to try to find him. Brandon realizes that seven floors, the 93rd to the 100th, have been destroyed. He cries that his dad is trapped and asks if he should call 911. His dad says they already did and were told to wait for the firemen. His dad says not to worry and that they will both be safe. Brandon tells his dad that he is with Richard, and his dad tells him to stay with Richard. Brandon feels that he cannot do this with his dad because they are a team.

Brandon sees a plane outside the window, much lower and closer than it should be. He hears a loud crash and sees fire from the South Tower. His dad is not calm anymore and tells Brandon to evacuate the building immediately. He tells Brandon that this is an attack and he needs to get out right now.

Reshmina is surprised to see that the American camp that Pasoon shot at last time they were in that spot is no longer there. Pasoon fires the rifle several times, calling the Taliban. Reshmina tries to grab the rifle from him, and they wrestle on the ground, “not in the playful way they had that morning. This was desperate. Vicious. Reshmina felt like she was fighting for her life” (161). Pasoon keeps possession of the rifle, and Reshmina calls him stupid and a baby. Pasoon hits her in the face, which he had never done before. Reshmina is shocked. Reshmina, begging on her knees, tells Pasoon that their whole family, even their whole village, will be killed if the Taliban learn an American is in their home. Pasoon says that it will be her and Baba’s fault. He fires the rifle two more times. Three Taliban fighters appear. Reshmina tries to give Pasoon his toy airplane back, but Pasoon tells her, “Toys are for babies. I’m a man now” (163). Knowing now that she cannot stop him, Reshmina runs towards her village to warn everyone.

Brandon and the group go down the stairs while Brandon wonders who could be attacking them. Esther and Richard tell him about how the building was bombed by terrorists in 1993 and it took three hours to evacuate. They are not sure if terrorists are to blame again. They arrive at the 78th floor, a Sky Lobby, and it is full of people looking for each other. Mr. Khoury, Esther, and Anson decide to follow a man with a cell phone to a different stairwell. Richard and Brandon stick together and go back down the original stairwell. As they travel down the floors, Brandon stops occasionally to try to call his dad from different office phones. The phones either do not work or have busy signals.

When they arrive at the second Sky Lobby on the 44th floor, there are emergency medical technicians (EMTs) helping injured people. It looks like “a kind of hospital” (172). There is a loud crash. People scream but cannot escape. Brandon is terrified that another plane has hit the building.

Reshmina comes across a poppy field. The flowers are tall and pink. Reshmina walks through them and wishes “the whole of Afghanistan were covered with the beautiful flowers” (175). The poppies are grown, though, to make heroin, not because they are beautiful. The Taliban use profits from the poppies to buy weapons, so the US military bombs poppy fields and arrests anyone who plants them. Pasoon often tried to convince Baba to grow poppies, but Baba refused.

Reshmina sees a man with a rifle. She hides in fear. When she sees the man with his back turned, she knows she has to escape right then. She crawls through the flowers, trying not to create any movement. One stem snaps, and she hears the guard prepare to shoot his rifle. He tells her he sees her and to come out.