Kamal is more awake. “Cool!” he says and patters forward, clambering up to the top bunk. “It’s like camp!”

I smile, sad. I wish I could make a game of it.

I sit down on the bottom bunk. Inside me there’s a dropping sensation, like an elevator going too fast. It’s just all the places we’ve passed through or fled or lived in, rushing down. I should be relieved—Sam is hurriedly explaining about the keys and locks, while Carlos drags in our duffel bag. But I can’t feel that way. Not yet. I swivel around in the room. Magic hands, kind hands, have made all this happen—the newly polished floor, the freshly painted walls. Soon, like Kamal, I will fall into sleep, into dreams, so long, as if we have traveled oceans and continents. And then I see, on the windowsill, someone has left a small plant in a glazed green pot. Leaned against it is a card: May this home be a sanctuary for those who seek.

Part 5: Exits North

Chapter Seventeen

The summer grass is turning yellow, leaning back in the sun, and Carlos and I are falling into each other.

Sanctuary. Usually a sanctuary is meant for a family. They were just getting it ready when Lidia called. For us, it means we’re not on our own anymore. We’re under the watchful and kind eyes of the congregation, people who show up and make sure we’re fed and taken care of. A trio of women bring cans and dried goods, cooked meals in Tupperware, lasagna trays. Sam checks on us all the time—sometimes I think he’s making an excuse—seeing if a bulb needs changing or fixing a loose hinge on a cupboard. He’s an energetic, small man with watery green eyes behind his glasses. He tells me he has a teenage son off visiting his daughter, who’s studying in France. He lingers, his big eyes looking over everything. He’s probably missing his kids.

Jayne, a lawyer, shows up our first day, sits Carlos down for a long interview, writing heavily on her pad about his case. Lidia calls, and she and Carlos speak for a long time in rapid-fire Spanish. When he hangs up, I ask, “Well?”

He shakes his head. “She isn’t sure.”

I take his hand. That’s all I can do. All he can do. For now.