A Constellation of Vital Phenomena

After returning home in 1996, Natasha rarely leaves the apartment she shares with Sonja except to visit Laina next door. Natasha spends her time reading the history books on Sonja’s bookshelf. Sonja finally convinces Natasha to come with her to the hospital in exchange for a souvenir Sonja brought back from London, a nutcracker shaped like a Buckingham Palace Guard. The next morning at the hospital, Natasha meets Deshi and her twin sister Maali, both nurses. Sonja gives Natasha a tour of the hospital. In the maternity ward, a new mother mistakes Natasha for a nurse by her white clothing and insists that Natasha hold her newborn baby.

Natasha continues to work with Sonja at the hospital. When it’s slow, Natasha draws what she remembers of the ruined city onto the hospital’s boarded windows. After a few months, Natasha overhears Deshi and Maali calling her drawings inaccurate, saying Natasha is misremembering the views from those windows. Deshi and Maali argue over their memories of the city, and Natasha begins to erase and redraw based on their recollections. Deshi and Maali “had stared from different windows onto different cities, and in trying to bring back both, [Natasha] created her own” (215).