The chapter starts with the main character, Gigi, getting on a plane to fly home to Egypt. It then turns into a flashback of her as a child. Her family is preparing for the Feast of Sacrifice in which a sheep or cow is sacrificed in order to honor Abraham’s past sacrifice of his son. Gigi’s Uncle is the Pasha and so a lot of the planning is his responsibility. It is considered taboo for anyone not involved in the sacrifice to witness it. Gigi is curious and sneaks out to watch the sheep be slain. She slips on blood and is knocked unconscious. When she wakes up she realizes that something is dreadfully wrong and believes it to be her fault.
I think all of us can relate to Gigi. We’ve all gone against our parents wishes at some point whether it be serious or not. It’s never specifically mentioned since the story says that “a storm” had occurred but i’m pretty sure that this is a metaphor for trouble. We find out in the next chapter, Sequestration, that this ‘storm’ is likely her family being affected by the sequestration. Of course, this means that none of it was Gigi’s fault, but she is just a child and doesn’t understand that. She believes that this terrible situation occurred due to her breaking her religious promise not to watch the sacrifice. I tend to feel that if too many good things happen to me then something really bad is bound to happen soon; sometimes this is the case, but not always. For instance, last week I found some money on the ground. I checked to makes sure that no one around me had dropped it before picking it up. The next day I found out one of my former high school coaches had a heart attack and passed away. Of course, these events were in no way related, but I couldn’t help but feel deep down that maybe it was my fault.
Another interesting thing in this chapter is the character Madame Helen. Madame Helen is the governess of Gigi. Madame Helen herself was affected by circumstances similar to a sequestration. She had moved to Cairo with her rich husband but they had been dispossessed after WWII. Her husband passed away shortly after before they could have any children.