These Impossible Things

Malak wakes to discover that she has begun her period in the night. She takes her soiled sheets to the washing machine and then joins the family in the kitchen for the family’s traditional Sunday brunch, which is a ritual that soothes her. When she sees her parents being affectionate with one another, Malak begins to cry over her own heartbreak and longs to feel closer to Egypt, her parents’ homeland. She allays her parents’ worried questions by blaming her poor mood on a sense of restlessness. While the family brainstorms ways to cheer her up, Malak suggests moving to Cairo. The family likes this idea, and Malak decides to consider it as a real option.

Malak attends the graduation ceremony for her master’s degree, pleased that she doesn’t see Kees. She knows she should see Jenna more often but cannot summon the energy to discover how their relationship dynamic has changed without Kees as a part of it. Instead, Malak plans her move to Cairo, which improves her mood. She hesitates when packing a photograph of herself, Kees, and Jenna; she recalls their conversation about the likelihood of Harry and Jacob converting to Islam and the legitimacy of the faith of those who convert only to marry a Muslim woman.

Malak impulsively texts Jenna, asking to meet before she departs for Cairo. They politely make arrangements, which reminds Malak that she has felt awkward ever since her breakup. She pushes the feeling aside and continues to pack.

Jacob calls Malak, asking her to come outside and see him. It’s the first time they’ve spoken since their breakup. He says that Jenna has told him about Malak’s departure, and he wants to spend time with her before she leaves. They return to Jacob’s apartment, where Malak notes that he has taken down the framed photographs of the two of them. Jacob says he is proud that she is following her long-held dream of living in Egypt, and Malak beings to cry. Jacob comforts her, and they end up having sex, and Malak feels deep regret that their love for one another is not enough to overcome the other obstacles in their lives.

Jacob confesses that he is still friends with Harry, which surprises Malak. He knows about Malak and Kees’s fight and reports that Kees looks worn down by the long hours she spends shadowing at a law firm. Harry told him that Kees both misses Malak and remains angry at her. When Malak leaves Jacob and heads home, she is pleased that she feels more excited about her upcoming adventure than she feels sad about leaving Jacob behind.

Jenna is spending time with her friend Lewis, whom she has known since her teenage years. They had a sexual relationship at the beginning of their friendship, but Lewis wished to engage in penetrative sex; Jenna refused, since she plans to reserve this for marriage, so they returned to a platonic friendship.

Jenna and Lewis go out to bars to drink and flirt with strangers. Jenna is annoyed when she has two missed calls from Mo, but she is glad that Lewis has returned from Liverpool, where he attended university, especially since Malak is in Egypt and Kees is overwhelmingly busy with her new job. She worries that the distance between the three of them may never be repaired. After her fun evening with Lewis, she heads home, careful to ensure that her parents won’t be able to detect that she’s been drinking alcohol.

At home, she sees Mo is online, but she doesn’t message him. Jenna is uncertain why she feels reluctant to date him when he is, on paper, everything she wants. She thinks back to an impromptu picnic date, which was the time she felt most attracted to Mo. She was impressed by Mo’s assessment of the kind of improved medical care that doctors could provide by getting to know their patients. She contrasts this time with an awkward afternoon walk they took later, wondering why she continues to date him.

The next day, she attends a women’s study group at the mosque, feeling peace and comfort until she looks at Kees and Malak’s usual places. Jenna finds peace again when an older woman begins reciting in her beautiful voice, which makes Jenna feel closer to God.

Kees notes that she has adopted her father’s practice of double-checking locked doors, which Harry never does. She falls asleep, exhausted, and struggles to wake at five o’clock the next morning for Fajar (early morning) prayer. Harry wakes her up when her alarm goes off, but he cannot return to sleep because of her movements. He laments that the apartment is too small, which is something Kees recognizes, especially as they both hurry to get ready for their days working at their respective legal firms. Kees’s firm works with refugees and asylum seekers; this makes her parents proud even though it keeps her too busy to visit them. She feels guilty that she is lying about Harry and about not being present as Saba prepares for her wedding. She also worries about the future of her relationship with Harry.

Kees thinks frequently of Malak but does not contact her. Jenna, too, has been distant, consumed with medical exams, though Kees worries that something deeper is going on with Jenna. Without Malak around, however, she doesn’t know how to push Jenna for answers. 

Kees and Harry go to dinner at Harry’s parents’ house. Kees likes the atmosphere, though the casual way they joke about Harry’s parentage (which is indisputable, given his resemblance to his father) makes her feel embarrassed. When Harry turns down an offer of wine, Kees feels guilty that he has given up drinking for her, though Harry insists he chose this on his own. Harry’s parents offer to purchase them a house in East London, which makes Kees fear that they think she is pregnant. She blurts out that she is not pregnant, making the atmosphere uncomfortable for everyone. This awkwardness intensifies when Kees reports that she cannot live in the apartment with Harry, as they aren’t married; Harry’s family assumed they already live together, given that Harry spends every night at Kees’s apartment. When Kees says this is culturally important, Harry’s parents stumble over themselves to show their sensitivity to cultural differences.

Later, Kees and Harry return to Kees’s apartment. They say their respective prayers and then have sex. Harry wakes her twice more in the night, and they eagerly have sex again. The next morning, Kees recognizes that Harry is not yet ready to speak about his parents’ offer. She wishes she could discuss the issue with Jenna and Malak. She wonders why she should even consider breaking up with someone she loves for public approval, even if this public approval is very important to her mother.

Malak rises early to enjoy the relative quiet of Cairo in the morning. She has adopted a habit of eating the same type of sandwich each day and looking out over the city, thinking of its differences from England. Her Arabic is not good, but she is learning to read the tones of Egyptian speech, which provides some context to her interactions.

Malak has an easy schedule teaching at an international school that conducts its classes in English. She spends her afternoons at a local pool, and in the evenings, she socializes with family and community members. She then goes to a club or restaurant with her roommates, Nylah and Rayan, with whom she has become friends. Her salary extends much further in Egypt than it would in England. Malak feels a little guilty about drinking but consoles herself by saying that she broke up with her boyfriend for God, so she is allowed some concessions from the rules. Nylah, who feels similarly guilty, suggested they attend the mosque, which led to a weekly prayer visit.

Malak recalls first meeting the sisters Nylah and Rayan, who were raised in Italy and came to Egypt to learn fluent Arabic. Malak thinks of them as being part of the “rich Arab crowd” (120), like Jenna. Malak misses her friends—Jenna and Kees—and frequently looks at a photograph of the three of them together, but she keeps it hidden away, unwilling to discuss her friendship with her roommates.

At the mosque, she meets a man named Ali. He, too, is from England—he was born there, unlike Malak, who immigrated to England in her babyhood. The two banter flirtatiously, though she lies and says she has been going to a different mosque for the first several months of her stay in Cairo. They exchange phone numbers. Nylah later teases her about the clear attraction between them and laments that her own romantic partner, Seif, has not made any sexual advances beyond kissing.

Kees, who has grown accustomed to the messy chaos of her law office, works with her friend Addy, a gay Pakistani colleague who does drag. He asks about her bad mood following the dinner with Harry’s family. Kees admits that she’s been avoiding discussing the flat purchase in hopes that the issue will go away by itself, but Addy points out that this is unlikely to be effective. He commiserates with the difficulty of loving someone that her family will disapprove of. Kees returns to work, glad for the distraction from her personal troubles; she resolves not to rush Harry into talking before he’s ready.

At home, she consults religious texts—including a book of Rumi theology and the Quran—seeking “loopholes” that will make her family accept her boyfriend. She falls asleep before Harry gets home, and he leaves before she wakes the next morning. A colleague named Emily interrupts Addy and Kees’s conversation to argue that Kees’s insistence on not “officially” living with Harry before marriage is hypocritical. The flippant way Emily characterizes Kees’s dilemma frustrates Kees.

Jacob comes to see Kees at work, and Kees immediately worries that something has happened to Harry. Jacob mysteriously asks to talk to her and urges her not to tell Harry. Kees, confused, agrees to meet him for a drink after work and spends the day worrying. When they meet up, Jacob reports that Harry plans to propose. Kees is surprised that Harry and Jacob are so close; Jacob laughingly reports that Malak said the same thing.

Jacob says Harry is upset because Kees doesn’t ever plan to introduce him to her parents. He cuts Kees off before she can begin to argue about white privilege, saying that Harry knows he has this privilege but that it doesn’t stop him from having other emotions. Jacob claims he himself found it extremely painful that Malak never planned a future with him despite loving him. He urges Kees to “get [her] shit together” before Harry proposes so she can “give him the right answer” (141). He reminds her not to tell Harry he spoke to her, saying this is for Harry’s benefit. Kees says she doesn’t know if she will agree to marry Harry, which Jacob sees as unusual for people who have been together as long as they have. He cautions her against making the wrong choice, explaining how badly his breakup with Malak still hurts and that he thinks it will always hurt.

The narrative notes that while Jacob discusses his breakup with Malak, she feels a sharp pain in Cairo and thinks of Jacob. Kees, in England, is shocked by how devastated Jacob looks. She spends the week thinking about Jacob’s heartbreak and feeling nauseous; the feeling only abates when she accepts Harry’s proposal. She feels gratitude to Jacob as she kisses Harry happily, thinking of how she might have refused the proposal if she hadn’t spoken to Jacob and seen how the breakup had affected him.