One Amazing Thing

The point of view switches to Cameron, an African American veteran. The chaos brought on by the earthquake reminds him of his experiences at war. Out of breath, he reaches for his inhaler, which has only five doses left. Cameron clearly knows how to handle himself and how the group should behave in a dangerous situation. As someone from the group attempts to open a stuck door, Cameron stops him, warning that the building is now unstable and this could cause further damage. A younger Muslim man refuses to listen to Cameron and insists on attempting to open the door. Realizing that these actions will put all of them in danger, Cameron gives the young man a calculated blow on the back of his head and the young man crumples to the ground. Cameron apologizes to the other survivors in the room, who lay stunned in the dark.

The point of view then switches to Malathi, an employee of the Consulate. She offers a prayer for forgiveness, believing that her recent actions could have caused the earthquake. She doesn’t want to follow the traditional path for Indian women—getting married—but instead wants to return to India to open a beauty shop. Malathi feels guilty because she has an ongoing flirtatious relationship with her boss, Mr. Mangalam, a married man. He shows favoritism to her over the other woman in the office. The day before, he gave her a box of candy; today, just before the earthquake struck, he kissed her. Malathi notices that Cameron helps Uma, the young Indian woman with the broken arm, to her feet. As Mr. Mangalam emerges from his office, Malathi tells him that the earthquake is their fault. Mr. Mangalam tried to hide under his desk when the earthquake hit, but the desk ending up sliding and he became trapped against the wall. The deity his mother gave him when he went away to college was crushed. This seems symbolic to him. As a believer in karma, he agrees that he must be to blame for the earthquake.

Cameron begins to take charge of the situation. He asks for a first aid kit for Uma and Malathi fetches it for him. Then he begins to make a list of things to be done, such as checking exits and securing food and water. Malathi begins to sweep up debris.

Uma takes aspirin, but it does little to help the pain of her broken arm. The young man who challenged Cameron earlier is still passed out on the floor. Malathi reports that his name is Tariq—a Muslim name, Uma realizes. She is embarrassed by the stereotypical thought that it is because he is Muslim that he has behaved violently.

Cameron checks for other injuries, assigns jobs from his list, and gives them orders to pool their food together. The older Chinese woman has a violent gash on her arm. Cameron enlists the woman’s granddaughter, Lily, to help him bandage the wound. He examines the room and realizes that they are trapped until a rescue team can arrive or the front door can be opened safely. To help bandage other wounds, Malathi is asked to give up her sari. She does so unwillingly, putting on a sweatshirt and waiting in Mr. Mangalam’s office, ashamed, until she is coaxed to rejoin the others.

Tariq awakes, realizes that Cameron knocked him out, and Uma overhears him make a threat to kill Cameron.

Mrs. Pritchett, the Caucasian woman, produces two Xanax pills and gives them to Uma, who takes them and drifts into sleep.

Tariq realizes it is after 7:00pm, and his tussle with Cameron caused him to miss his evening prayers. He missed the earlier prayer because he was ashamed to take out his rug and pray in public. Tariq reflects that, growing up in America, he was hardly devout. The September 11 attacks and the war in Afghanistan have led him to have arguments with friends about what Muslims really believe. Also, he has been influenced by Farah, a devout Muslim who came from India on a scholarship to study in America. She challenges his lack of knowledge about Muslim culture and his blind acceptance of American ideals.

Cameron calls for everyone to come forward and have something to eat. He informs them that he is a United States Army veteran. Tariq challenges his authority, admitting to himself that he wants to be the one to save them somehow. 

Cameron portions out the food between them with the help of Lily, the teenage girl. He feels that he has been unjustly accused by Tariq, who seems to have a chip on his shoulder. With his childhood poverty and the difficult circumstances of his own life, Cameron wants to laugh at Tariq’s accusations. However, he has studied Gandhi and feels bad for knocking Tariq out, even though he knew it could not be avoided.

Malathi reveals that Mr. Mangalam has a bathroom in his office. While she was in his office changing out of her sari, Malathi explored Mr. Mangalam’s private bathroom, which she and the other office girls had long resented him for. She also goes through his file cabinets, where she discovers something she decides to keep a secret until later.

The discovery of a bathroom with running water lifts everyone’s spirits. Cameron orders all available bowls and containers to be filled with water. When it is her turn in the bathroom, Uma studies herself in the mirror and begins to wonder about the lives of her companions and why they want to travel to India.

As the others rest, Mr. Pritchett and Uma volunteer to keep watch. In the dark, he talks uncomfortably with Uma, revealing that his name (Lance) was after Lancelot, although he is an accountant and has never felt especially adventurous. He tells Uma that he and his wife are going to India to stay in a palace, but he does not say that Mrs. Pritchett recently tried to kill herself. Mr. Pritchett reflects to himself that his wife has become a different person since being released from the hospital, doped up on pills prescribed by a psychiatrist and doing only sloppy housekeeping at best. He found an article about old palaces in India converted into hotels and showed it to Mrs. Pritchett. Because it was the first spark of life he had seen in her since her release, he booked the trip for them.

Uma takes Mr. Pritchett’s hand, which alarms him, but she only guides his hand to feel the carpet, which is wet. Mr. Pritchett wants to wake everyone immediately, but Uma keeps him quiet, insisting that everyone needs sleep and the knowledge won’t benefit them in any way. 

Water continues to seep into the room where they are trapped. Cameron asks himself, “Would you give up your life for the lives of all these people” (54)? With no sign of rescue, he tries to open the door to the hallway. The door doesn’t open by simply pulling, so they make a human chain, holding onto each other and pulling simultaneously. The door eventually comes open. Cameron urges caution as the building may shift, but Tariq, refusing to listen, runs out into the hallway. Soon they hear his scream amid a crush of falling debris.

The ceiling has collapsed, trapping Tariq. Lily is the only person small enough to crawl through an opening in the rubble. With a small flashlight she climbs the unstable pile of debris and locates Tariq’s shoe. His foot moves slightly, so she knows he is alive. She waits with him until the others can clear the rubble to reach them.

Mr. Mangalam, happy to cede all authority to Cameron, begins to follow his orders to move debris. He has been sneaking into his office to sip from a bottle of Wild Turkey hiding in his file cabinet and then going to the bathroom for mouthwash.

When they reach Tariq hours later, he is conscious but scraped up. Lily holds his hand, rubbing salve into the cuts on his face. She brings him his Quran for comfort. Cameron announces that the stairwell is blocked, and they will be unable to use this for an exit. Tariq hears this and feels ashamed for his actions. He tries again to pray but finds he cannot remember the words.

Mrs. Pritchett is stunned to hear about the blocked passage because she feels she’s meant to go to India. She remembers a time much earlier in her life when she baked a peach pie and ate it with a friend. She plans to go to India for other reasons than to see a palace, although her husband is not aware of this. She tries to take four Xanax, but her husband stops her. She accuses him of being uncaring and he feels she is ungrateful for how he has watched over her since her suicide attempt. He snatches the pill bottle away from her, embarrassed that the others have heard them fighting. Malathi confronts Mr. Pritchett, insisting that he return his wife’s medication. This starts an argument between Mr. Mangalam and Malathi about interfering in other people’s lives. Angry, Malathi tells everyone that Mr. Mangalam has a secret stash of bourbon in his office and hints that he has behaved unprofessionally toward her. Mr. Mangalam is angry at this public humiliation, especially after the nice kiss they shared that morning and he hits her. Malathi cries out and Lily gets involved, swearing at him and scratching his face. Mr. Mangalam pushes Lily to the floor. Tariq begins hitting Mr. Mangalam and he fights back against Tariq. The others cry out, horrified, and Mr. Mangalam fades into unconsciousness.