Refugee

In the Straits of Florida, Isabel dives off her boat to rescue Señor Castillo. It’s still dark, and she struggles to find him in the murky water. When she brings him to the surface, her friend Iván dives in to help her return Castillo to the boat. Everyone resumes the tasks of bailing and getting the motor started. As dawn is breaking, Isabel’s mother notices that a storm is on the way.

On the beach in Izmir, Mahmoud and his family are herded onto a rubber dinghy with 30 other people. The dinghy is motorized, and the refugees are expected to pilot it themselves. Their destination is the island of Lesbos in Greece, which is 100 kilometers away: “They pushed on through driving rain and roiling seas for what felt like an eternity. It might have been ten hours or ten minutes, [and Mahmoud] wanted it to end, and end now” (145). At that moment, the dinghy collides with an outcropping of rock, and everyone tumbles into the sea.

Outside of Havana Harbor, Josef and his family wait tensely to be allowed ashore. Every day, the Cuban police promise “tomorrow.” Meanwhile, both English and French vessels carrying refugees are allowed entry. The Nazi staff on the MS St. Louis grow bolder and begin to harass the passengers. They demand that Josef let them into his family’s cabin. The Nazis trash the room and threaten to return Josef’s father to a concentration camp. Josef’s father says to Josef, “[y]ou said they wouldn’t send me back. You promised, and they came for me anyway” (152). Josef feels terrible that he couldn’t keep his promise to his father.

In the Straits of Florida, a storm is lashing Isabel’s tiny boat. As everyone bails to keep ahead of the rain, Isabel recalls a hurricane that swept her grandmother into the ocean years earlier: “She couldn’t think about that now. All she could do now was scoop water […] and pray they didn’t drown in the mad conga solo that drummed against the side of their tiny metal boat” (156).

Adrift in the Mediterranean Sea, Mahmoud and his family struggle to keep from drowning. Another dinghy comes by, but it’s already overcrowded with passengers. Mahmoud implores someone on board to take his infant sister, Hana. A woman takes the baby, while a man volunteers to call the Coast Guard to come and pick them up. Mahmoud’s mother is devastated that her daughter is gone: “Mahmoud swam over to [his mother] and wrestled her hands into stillness, and she put her head on Mahmoud’s shoulder and sobbed. Mahmoud’s sister was gone, and so were his father and brother” (163).

The longer the MS St. Louis remains stranded just outside Havana, the more distressed Josef’s father becomes. He talks about his time at Dachau: “After the evening roll call, they would choose someone to drown. One every night” (168). He insists that he will never go back there. Josef’s mother goes to ask the ship doctor for a sleeping draught, hoping that this will quiet her husband down. To avoid suspicion about Landau’s unstable behavior, she claims that the medicine is meant for her. The doctor makes her take it on the spot. When she returns to the cabin in a drugged state, she falls asleep, leaving Josef to deal with his father and younger sister. While Josef is distracted, Landau darts out of the cabin and throws himself overboard.

In the Caribbean Sea, the storm has pushed Isabel’s boat off course. The passengers spot land and dock at an island in the Bahamas. The local police say that the refugees won’t be allowed to set foot on land. Spectators bring them food, water, and medicine for Isabel’s pregnant mother: “They were farther away from Florida and freedom than they had ever been before” (178).

In the Mediterranean Sea, Mahmoud and his mother struggle to tread water. Mahmoud notices a dead man floating nearby in a life jacket. As Mahmoud removes the jacket, he says Islamic prayers for the dead over the corpse since the man will never receive a proper burial. Then, Mahmoud puts the jacket on his mother and clings to her to keep them both afloat: “He didn’t know where they would go or how they would get out of the water. […] In the meantime, they had to survive the night” (182).

Aboard the MS St. Louis, Josef calls for someone to rescue his drowning father. A Cuban policeman dives into the water, but Josef’s father resists. Once in the rescue boat, Landau keeps trying to throw himself back into the sea because he wants to die. The police take him away to a hospital in Havana for treatment. Josef is now the man of the family. He worries that they will all have to return to Germany.

Somewhere between the Bahamas and Florida, Isabel’s fellow passengers begin to quarrel. They’re all hot and tired from bailing to keep the boat from sinking. Someone says that the boat is carrying too much weight and suggests that if one or two people slip into the water and hang onto the side, it will lighten the load; Amara suggests that it will also keep them cooler: “And right now, Isabel thought, cooler heads just might be the most important thing of all” (191).