CF will not talk about the war, about his time in Iraq. This will be a source of tension in the background as the story unfolds. His efforts to help her talk will continue to the point that he will try and take her to Lamesa and see his family home. He thinks this is what she wants because she is reading Web pages about Lamesa, cotton, pen pals, etc.
He eventually convinces her to come climbing with him to Enchanted Rock. She had so much fun during the rock climbing he thinks this will cure her of her inability to speak. Amina doesn't know that he has secret plans to make a side trip back to Lamesa and show her his family home and a picture of his mother whom he thinks is her mother also. Unfortunately she dies during their climbing accident and is never seen from again because CF buries her there.
He gets a phone call from his dad who's getting impatient waiting for him to arrive. He finally gets home to find his dad in tears in the attic (emphasize the climbing of the stairs and hearing the sobbing from his father). [Is he crying because he knows he has cancer? He knows Florence cheated on him? He regrets never eloping with her and thus causing her to escape to Egypt?]
His dad is surrounded by objects from his past that he must get rid of in order to move out of the house. [What are these objects? A sewing machine, his mother's glasses, his mother's suitcase, etc]
He convinces his dad to go down and get a drink of water. This is when he goes through her stuff and discovers the real history.
(cont'd)
What does Cf's commanding officer tell him that makes him recall the words when sitting in the office of his English instructor.
How does AZ change, transform as she spends more time in Austin. Does Sara help her style her hair when she decides to remove her scarf? Or does she lose her scarf?
How does CF either convince his dad to help him bury the body? Or does he get the idea from his father? Ad his father makes a reference to burying his mothers old stuff. Maybe his father wants to bury his wife's belongings in the Toxic waste dump? "Stay away from that case? It's toxic."
What other flashbacks should be used in the story? How does CF break the ice with his group? AZ could be describe by what she is not. Before given a roster with everyone's contact information, CF asks everyone where they are from. AZ doean't answer so he simply must try to guess.