Sofia is borne along by her new secret. She and Saul cross paths in the hallway; there is something magnetic about them, something molten. They clasp hands in doorways; they walk together around the block, quickly; they speak directly into one another’s mouths, pouring sentences out like liquid, cresting a wave that is all animal addiction, all exhale.

Sofia and Saul pass notes when he comes to her house. They arrange meetings in other neighborhoods. They duck into small restaurants and try foods from places they have only ever seen on maps: Morocco, Greece, Malaya. Saul doesn’t know which are the bad neighborhoods and he doesn’t treat Sofia like she’s fragile. They walk as far west as they can without stepping into the Hudson, and as the sun sets they watch the lights come on in New Jersey and Times Square and they find themselves on an island, an impenetrably dark patch of industrial wasteland at the edge of the world.

With Saul, Sofia feels there is room for her. Saul asks Sofia who she is, who she wants to be, and there is never the threat of disappointment, of Sofia not fitting into a preordained space. I think I want to be powerful, like my father, she says to Saul, but I will never do it the way he does it. She does not know what she will do but she understands that it will be something. As the summer passes, Saul is on her mind more and more often, despite her resolve that they are only having fun, only breaking rules.

Saul, who is in love with Sofia despite it being unbearable to fall in love when you have lost your country and your family, understands contradictions. He understands standing in the presence of something impossible. And Saul begins to feel like he is coming out of a long hibernation, a lifetime of winter, the soft thump of his heartbeat speeding up as Sofia grows warmer and warmer in front of him, bathing him in heat. He begins to understand the value of sensation, the burning necessity of the present. Where once he had lived in memories, in speculation, in profound worry, Saul begins to claw his way toward his life as it unfolds in each moment.

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