Mon­day marks a deeply emo­tion­al day for Cyrus Shams, as he grap­ples with the pro­found after­math of his moth­er Orkideh’s death. The moment arrives when he dis­cov­ers an obit­u­ary for Orkideh, an Iran­ian Amer­i­can visu­al artist, in the New York Times, while walk­ing in Prospect Park. The obit­u­ary details her final days, where she chose to pub­licly engage with the theme of death, leav­ing a lega­cy of con­fronting mor­tal­i­ty at the Brook­lyn Muse­um. This dis­cov­ery, prompt­ed by a mes­sage from his friend Sad James, forces Cyrus to con­front his grief as he learns more about his mother’s final artis­tic endeav­ors, which reflect her ongo­ing strug­gle with iden­ti­ty, mor­tal­i­ty, and cre­ative expres­sion.

Cyrus is drawn into his mother’s poignant words, which evoke both pride and sor­row. Orkideh’s deci­sion to wres­tle with death open­ly, mak­ing it a cen­tral part of her art, chal­lenges Cyrus to reflect on his own emo­tions. He expe­ri­ences a com­pli­cat­ed blend of anger and pride as he con­tem­plates the dif­fi­cult path she carved as an Iran­ian artist in Amer­i­ca, bat­tling soci­etal rejec­tion while leav­ing an indeli­ble mark on the world. Her words ignite a storm of emo­tions with­in him as he process­es not just her lega­cy, but his per­son­al rela­tion­ship with her, which was fraught with its own strug­gles. Despite his con­flict­ed feel­ings, Cyrus comes to under­stand that his mother’s life was an act of defi­ance against both her cul­ture and the loom­ing shad­ow of her mor­tal­i­ty, shap­ing her own nar­ra­tive in the process.

Lat­er, while sit­ting on a park bench, Cyrus finds him­self yearn­ing for peace, wish­ing for an end to the emo­tion­al storm with­in him. This moment of soli­tude and vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty is inter­rupt­ed by a call from his friend Zee Novak, who offers con­do­lences and shares con­cern for him. Their con­ver­sa­tion marks a piv­otal point in the nar­ra­tive, as Cyrus begins to reflect on their friend­ship, real­iz­ing how much he regrets the emo­tion­al dis­tance he has cre­at­ed with Zee. This exchange allows Cyrus to open up, express­ing his grief and begin­ning the process of heal­ing through Zee’s under­stand­ing. In turn, their con­ver­sa­tion brings Cyrus a sense of release, as he rec­og­nizes the com­fort and loy­al­ty that can only come from deep, true friend­ships, espe­cial­ly dur­ing dif­fi­cult times.

As the day pro­gress­es, Cyrus and Zee meet in per­son, and their shared time togeth­er fur­ther deep­ens their con­nec­tion. Their dia­logue spans many themes, from grief to the absur­di­ty of life, help­ing them both to process the com­plex emo­tions that life’s strug­gles bring. Cyrus starts to find solace in Zee’s com­pan­ion­ship, feel­ing the weight of his loss lift, even if just slight­ly. Their con­ver­sa­tion reflects a nat­ur­al, flow­ing exchange of thoughts on virtue, deprav­i­ty, and the inher­ent messi­ness of life, which can­not be neat­ly cat­e­go­rized or resolved. Through the sur­re­al and unex­pect­ed beau­ty of the world around them, includ­ing wild hors­es and a shift­ing atmos­phere, Cyrus feels him­self becom­ing more attuned to what lies ahead. The pro­found nature of their bond offers him a glimpse of peace amidst the tur­moil of mourn­ing.

In the qui­et after their shared words, Cyrus expe­ri­ences a moment of con­nec­tion that brings him a sense of warmth and hope, tran­scend­ing the heavy loss he con­tin­ues to feel. This moment serves as a turn­ing point in the chap­ter, as the vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty he feels trans­forms into some­thing deep­er, more accept­ing of both the pain and the pos­si­bil­i­ty of heal­ing. Cyrus’s prayer, both a lit­er­al and fig­u­ra­tive request for strength, rever­ber­ates through him as he begins to rec­on­cile with his grief and his mother’s death. The chap­ter ends on a hope­ful note, reflect­ing the sig­nif­i­cance of human con­nec­tions, art, and how those bonds can help one nav­i­gate the tran­sient nature of life. In the midst of this aching loss, there is an under­stand­ing that love and friend­ship offer the pos­si­bil­i­ty of hope, even as the real­i­ties of life’s imper­ma­nence remain ever-present.