Zeitoun

Zeitoun wakes to find the entire city flooded. The scene seems biblical, and Zeitoun notes how quiet it is. After eating breakfast, he becomes restless. He realizes he can’t stay on the roof and, looking down, remembers the canoe. The canoe inspires him, and he lowers himself down into it and paddles off down Dart Street. Zeitoun looks at all of the damage and thinks how everyone had left thinking they’d be able to return in a day or two. The damage is extensive, entire homes and all of their contents flooded. The loss and grief that all of this will engender saddens Zeitoun. He feels like an explorer in the canoe, and in a sense, he is in a new world with New Orleans submerged in water. The builder in him, however, thinks about all of the damage that’s been caused by the flood. He also thinks about all of the animals left behind and the people living near the levees; they had no chance when the city flooded.

One of his neighbors, Frank Noland, talks to Zeitoun from his second-story window. Zeitoun notes how odd it is to be able to just paddle up to someone’s property like this. Frank’s motorcycle, which he’d been restoring, is visible under the water, completely ruined. Frank asks Zeitoun if he can take him to check on his brand new truck; Zeitoun agrees if Frank will accompany him to check on a few of his properties. The two men set off and soon find Frank’s truck, which is also ruined. Heading toward Zeitoun’s properties, they run into other neighbors who have stayed behind. An elderly couple they meet wants to leave, so Zeitoun and Frank go to get help. As they are leaving, Zeitoun hears a faint cry for help. He traces the call to a one-story house where he finds another elderly woman trapped inside. The woman is overweight, and has been clinging to furniture to survive. Zeitoun manages to get her outside but there’s no way she can fit into the canoe. The two men tell her to wait for help, though she doesn’t want to be left alone, and they go to find others who might be able to assist her and the elderly couple.

When Frank and Zeitoun reach Claiborne, they find uniformed officers on fan boats, but the officers won’t stop and don’t even look in their direction when they try to flag them down. In fact, the fan boats almost tip their canoe over. Finally, a small fishing boat approaches and the two young men inside agree to help them. First, they return to the overweight woman’s house and have to figure out a way to get her into the boat. Zeitoun comes up with a plan and, after a while, the woman is rescued and put in the fishing boat. They then head to the elderly couple’s house and get them safely aboard the boat as well. The young men in the fishing boat have seen a temporary medical staging ground and it is agreed that they should take the evacuees there. Zeitoun and Frank thank them, and then leave.

Kathy is driving around Baton Rouge again, trying to kill time. The house is too crowded and she wants to be somewhere else. She thinks about Zeitoun and how calm he sounded before his phone went dead. The news reports are all about lawlessness and anarchy on the streets. Thousands are reported dead, and yet her husband decided to remain in the city. Though she tries not to think about the worst, she finds herself imagining the possibility of Zeitoun being killed. But troops are being sent to the city, she tells herself; she shouldn’t worry. When she returns home, however, her mother greets her and tells her to take off her hijab. She tells Kathy that, because Zeitoun isn’t around, she can be herself. Though she is furious, Kathy decides not to argue. Instead, she packs and leaves. In the meantime, she decides to try and convince Zeitoun to leave New Orleans.

Back in the city, Zeitoun and Frank head to one of Zeitoun’s rental properties on Claiborne. Arriving, they find one of the tenants, Todd Gambino, still there. Zeitoun enters the house to assess the damage and realizes that the phone is still working. He calls Kathy, who is overjoyed to hear his voice. She tries to persuade him to leave, but Zeitoun tells her he’s needed in the city. He promises to call her every day at noon. When they hang up, Kathy turns on the TV and sees pictures of New Orleans. The news is abysmal, and she calls Zeitoun back but gets no answer.

Zeitoun arrives at the Dart Street house before nightfall, washes up, pray and eats. He then goes inside and looks at old family photos again. A picture of his dead brother, Mohammed, shaking the hand of Lebanon’s vice president brings back a flood of memories. He recalls Mohammed training to be an ocean swimmer, and how, with time, he became the best ocean swimmer in the world. His brother’s achievements changed how the entire family viewed the world and opened up new possibilities; his death had a huge impact on them all.  

Kathy and the kids leave Baton Rouge for Yuko’s home in Arizona. Kathy calls the Claiborne house to tell Zeitoun but a stranger answers the phone instead. When Kathy asks the man who he is, the line goes dead. The encounter rattles her nerves, and she begins thinking of the worst possible outcomes, including the possibility that this stranger has killed Zeitoun. She pulls into a McDonald’s parking lot to try and calm her nerves, and when she turns on the radio, the news reports are all about the lawlessness and crime in New Orleans, and how soldiers were on their way to fight the quickly deteriorating situation. The kids, hearing this, begin to ask Kathy whether or not their home is underwater, and about their father. She tells them not to worry, and to stop asking questions, but she can’t help worrying about Zeitoun herself. After a few minutes, the kids begin asking questions again and Kathy finds herself yelling at them. Sobbing uncontrollably, she pulls off the highway. After a few minutes she calls Yuko, who comes up with a plan. Kathy will drive to Houston and stay with family friends. Yuko’s husband, Ahmaad, would fly to Houston and meet Kathy. He’d drive them the rest of the way to Arizona.

Zeitoun wakes up exhausted, his sleep having been interrupted by the howling of abandoned dogs, and decides that he will find them. He follows the sound of barking to a nearby home. As he gets closer, the barking becomes more frantic, the dogs sensing that someone is coming. He climbs a tree into a second-story window and sees two dogs locked in a cage. Though he realizes the dogs are confused enough to bite him, he opens the cage and lets the dogs out. The dogs are hungry and thirsty, so he paddles back home to get food and water. He brings the food over to the dogs, who are happy to see him and to be fed. He then begins searching for other dogs. He hears more barking and realizes that the neighboring house also has two dogs that have been left behind. He feeds these two as well, leaving the window open so they can get some fresh air.

As he paddles through the streets, Zeitoun notices that the water is getting dirtier, but helping the dogs has invigorated him, and he heads to Claiborne to tell Kathy. Kathy is relieved to hear his voice, and tells him about the stranger who answered the phone earlier. She urges him to leave New Orleans. He tells her again that he’s fine, that everything is alright and that he feels he’s supposed to be in the city to help people.

Setting out again, Zeitoun sees his neighbor, Charlie Ray, and is emboldened to see that others have defied the odds and stayed in the city. He decides to head closer to downtown to see if he can be of any assistance. He passes families wading through the water with their belongings and, when he can, gives them what supplies he has. At the I-10 ramp near Claiborne, he sees dozens of people, along with about a dozen dogs, waiting around. They are all in good spirits, and offer him water, which he takes to give to others along the way. He promises them he’ll return to check on them. Reasoning that whatever was being reported on the news is likely happening downtown, Zeitoun decides not to venture further, and heads back to Dart Street.

Yuko has arranged for Kathy and the kids to stay at a friend’s house, along with others who had fled the hurricane. Her friend, Mary, is also an adult convert to Islam. Kathy arrives at Mary’s house and she is so relieved to see Kathy and the kids that Kathy begins crying all over again.

Zeitoun returns home to find that his tent has fallen off the roof and is in water, probably as the result of a helicopter flying by. He begins cleaning the tent and securing it with heavier books when another helicopter approaches, almost blowing the tent off the roof again. The helicopter is trying to rescue him, but as Zeitoun doesn’t want to leave, he tries telling them that he’s fine and he’ll stay. Finally realizing what he’s saying, a box of water bottles are dropped down from the helicopter, flattening Zeitoun’s tent again. Satisfied, the helicopter flies off. Zeitoun finally fixes the tent but is unable to sleep. He thinks of his company’s office building, all of the supplies there and the damage that has probably been done. He then thinks of his day’s efforts, and as he finally dozes off, is content to hear no more barking.