On a noisy Bronx street, twenty-three days before the hanging, Fatima meets up with a newspaper guy.
He offers
her a job selling newspapers, but she's got to pay for them upfront.
She
coughs up the five hundred bucks—all the money she has saved—and hands it over;
then she gets a laundry list of what not
to do while there.
It goes
something like this: Never let the police see you. Be careful of rats. Don't
get into any trouble.
Since
she's in the country illegally, it's rough finding work and housing, but newspaper
dude sorts it out for her.
When he
finishes his instructions, Fatima asks how to get to the Statue of Liberty, but
he warns her not to go there.
Her new
home is small and dark, but to Fatima, it's a dream.
One day,
Fatima starts crying while outside. When a little girl asks her what's the
deal, she explains that it's because she's happy.
Then she
makes three paper angels out of old newspapers. She folds them a bunch of times
until they have wings, then she gives two to the girl: one for her and one for
her mom.
Fatima
gives the other one to a man who is crying. It turns out he's happy as well. Yay
for happy tears.
The guy
introduces himself as Jimmi and then takes her over to the Vet hospital to meet
up with his friends.
While
there, someone asks Fatima if she's interested in teaching English there. The
job is volunteering, but Fatima takes it since she taught the refugee girls and
loved it.