Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow

When the social worker, Mme. Du, pays a visit, Doria feels she has come by largely to show off and feel superior. Yasmina responds more warmly, gossiping about Mme. Du’s recent wedding and telling her about the strike at the motel. Mme. Du suggests that Yasmina take adult-literacy courses as a step toward finding a better job. Mme. Du also gives Doria a coupon for free books, but Doria takes this as an insult, proof that she is an object of pity.

Later, Aunt Zohra calls with the news that Youssef has been arrested for involvement in drug dealing and auto theft. Yasmina and Doria are deeply upset by this news. As they stare out the window at the rain, Doria likens the fine drizzle to “God […] spitting on all of us” (47).

Doria describes a recurring dream in which she flies out of her window, then smashes into a wall. When she tells Mme. Burlaud about the dream, Mme. Burlaud immediately relates it to a previous incident in which Doria drew an “escape route” from Livry-Gargan on a map, taking in all the places she hoped to visit after leaving home (49). 

Doria admits she dreams of leaving, but feels she cannot leave her mother, or Lila and Sarah. She likes being needed, but escapes into fantasy by pretending she’s a member of the Ingalls family on Little House in the Prairie. Doria recalls a lavender top her mother once brought home with her, with stars and the English words “Sweet Dreams” on it. When she wore it to school, the other girls teased her for not realizing it was a pajama top.

Hamoudi offers Doria a ride home from school. Though he talks about Karine, he assures Doria that she’ll always be his “favorite.” Doria notes that Hamoudi has a different car every time she sees him, suggesting he’s still “working some shady stuff” (52). Doria feels happy that Hamoudi has met Karine and his life has changed, even though for her it’s still “kif-kif tomorrow. Same shit, different day” (53). Doria spots the neighborhood grocer, Aziz, and wonders if he’s a possible match for her mother, though he’s about fifty, sells expired food, and tells unfunny jokes in a heavy accent. Nevertheless, their lives would be easier and more stable with a man in the house.

Yasmina has left her job at the motel. Doria is happy that she has gotten away from her racist boss, M. Winner, even though he withheld Yasmina’s back pay. Yasmina is able to quit because of the training course Mme. Du has found for her. Doria notes that Yasmina is more intimidated by the thought of going to school than she was by going to work at the motel. Doria is glad that her mother will be home more and plans to help her with her homework. Now that Yasmina is home in the evenings, they watch television together and talk.

Doria goes to the neighborhood minimarket to buy sanitary pads, avoiding Aziz’s grocery. She feels embarrassed because the pads come in a big orange package. Then the cashier cannot scan the package and asks for a price check over the store’s PA system. 

When she returns home, her mother is talking via speakerphone with Aunt Zohra. Aunt Zohra describes Youssef weeping when she visits him in jail and tells Yasmina she is lucky not to have a son. She dreads explaining the situation to her husband when he returns from Morocco in two months. Doria admits her own knowledge of the law comes solely from old Perry Mason episodes, and thinks that if Youssef goes to prison, she understands nothing about justice, either.