“But we’re gonna lose a lot of money if we can’t open again like really soon.”

His father picked up the remote, changed the channel. “We’re not sure we’re fixing the glass,” he said. “Not sure we’re opening.”

“What do you mean?” Marwan reached out and took the remote from his father’s hand. His father’s whole body seemed to relax, and then he said, “Your mother and I, we’re talking about a life change.”

Marwan’s sisters were fighting in the bathroom—“I was here first!” “No, I was here first!”

“What kind of life change?” Marwan asked.

“A move,” his father said.

“To where?”

His mother was negotiating a toothpaste situation. (“That’s too much.” “You don’t actually have to get it wet first.”)

“Home,” his father said.

“This is home,” Marwan said.

“Is it?” His father took the remote back with a shaky hand and turned the TV off. “Anyway, doesn’t have to be.”

“Dad,” Marwan said. “You can’t let them … win.”

“Your uncle’s business. It’s doing well. He has a job for me in Cairo if I want it.”

“This is crazy!” Marwan said. “We’re not moving to Egypt!”

“Your grandparents won’t live forever. You hardly know them. It could be a good time to—”

“I honestly can’t believe this,” Marwan said. “We can’t just … leave.”

“We can,” his father said. “I think we will.”

His mother came into the room, and Marwan said, “Mom?”

She said, “Not now.”

His sisters ran through the room, playing catch with a stuffed sloth. Backing out of their path, he said, “I’ll be down when they’re asleep,” and headed for the stairwell to the roof.

Pushing the latch door open, he saw sky and felt freedom. It was colder than he’d realized, though. Huddling in a corner of the bench seat, he pulled his legs up close and put his hood up and tried not to shake. You had to relax into cold if you didn’t want it to really bother you; his father called it “conditioning” whenever the seasons were changing in that direction.

The city sky was clear and as dark as it gets, which was never really dark except in a blackout and not even then. He saw mostly planes, not stars, but knew that whole galaxies of them were up there and that even if he couldn’t see them, other people could and were wishing upon them—pleading, like he was, for things to somehow get better.

He found what he thought was a planet, but it was possible it was moving, so it was maybe a satellite that was maybe watching him and judging him for what he’d done.

But it had been right to destroy it.

Of course it had.