In another dialogic dream, Ali speaks with Rumi, a 13th-century Sufi poet, about Cyrus. They are standing outside a music venue, smoking together. Ali confides in Rumi that he thinks Roya might have been having an affair before she died, and he asks how Cyrus is coping with Orkideh’s death. Rumi is sympathetic and asserts that Cyrus “is going to be able to write a hell of a book” (255). They go inside the venue together. Ali encounters Zee, and the two men wrap their arms around each other’s shoulders as the crowd begins to chant along to one of Rumi’s quatrains.

A New York Times article from July 5, 1988, recounts President Ronald Reagan’s insistence that the US Navy acted to the best of its ability when making the decision to shoot down Iran Air Flight 655.

Sitting across from the Brooklyn Museum in the narrative present, Cyrus receives a call from Sang Linh, Orkideh’s ex-wife and gallerist. Cyrus is confused about how Sang got his number and why she is calling him. Sang informs him that Orkideh had told her that they had been having conversations at the DEATH SPEAK exhibit.