Open City

In February, Julius goes to see his accountant about his taxes, but forgets his checkbook. When he tries to withdraw money from an ATM, he can’t remember his pin code. He keeps trying at the same machine, and another machine after walking for a bit, but the only four-digit number he can remember is 2046, the title of a film by Wong Kar-Wai. Late for his appointment, he promises to send his accountant a check in the mail.

Afterwards, he walks to Battery Park. While watching children play, he thinks about the slave trading that occurred in the past in the same area and how City Bank of New York and other companies profited from the slave trade. Julius watches a group of Chinese women dancing. When they turn off their radio, he hears an erhu—a traditional Chinese stringed instrument. He walks over to watch the two erhu players and a singer, as well as the people around them. He thinks of his patient, V., whose obituary he read earlier that day. He sits on a bench with another man who is reading a book, and wants to tell him about V., but doesn’t.

When he is back at his apartment, Julius refuses to look up the pin code for his bank card. However, the bank calls him the next day, reminding him of the failed attempts. He reassures them it was him, but internally is concerned about his mental capacity fading. It snows later that day. A week passes before Julius is willing to look up the forgotten number.

Julius visits Dr. Saito, who is struggling with a bedbug infestation. Saito describes a performance he saw at the Chamber Music Society and asks his nurse-aide to turn down the heat. Julius notices that she is pregnant, and she suggests he read the newspaper to Saito. Julius does, and Saito compares the current war to World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.

They discuss a story on civil unions, and Julius recalls that Saito had a male partner who died. Saito never talked about his relationship with Julius, and Julius had never asked, but learned the information through the alumni magazine. Saito warns Julius to avoid closing doors while he is still young.

When Julius gets back to his apartment, he compares the New York bedbug problem to the AIDS crisis. While bedbugs are not fatal, they do affect rich and poor equally. Julius thinks Saito’s bedbug problem is worse than the other things he has lived through—like racism and anti-gay bias—and then hates himself for thinking this.

He goes for a walk through Central Park, observing the snow, birds, and trees. After he gets cold and takes the subway home, he researches bedbugs. Learning how hardy they are concerns Julius, and he looks at his mattress with a flashlight before going to bed, where he sleeps poorly.

Julius dreams of a bombing at a pet market in Basra. His mother and Nadège are there in burkas, talking about how bedbugs are worse than bombs. His mother starts to say something about his sister, but then he wakes up. Julius drinks some water, thinks about the passage about sleeping he read when he was falling asleep, and eats a cold pork chop.

The next day, a Saturday, he visits with Saito. Saito is much weaker and says he wants to go into the forest and be killed by lions because he is in so much pain. Julius holds his hand, then leaves so Saito can sleep. Julius visits his friend, and they discuss the tree of heaven, an invasive species, growing in his friend’s apartment courtyard. They drink beers and Julius looks at his friend’s books. His friend recommends one by Simone Weil on the Iliad.

They talk about Saito, and how Julius wanted him to say something more meaningful than the “nonsense about lions” (180). Julius’s friend argues in favor of being able to choose how and when one dies. Meanwhile, Julius looks at the birds outside, considering how some people think each one is cared for by God. His friend admits to thinking about how he would like to die, such as what music he would like to have playing when he passes away.

In late March, Julius calls Saito, and an unfamiliar woman’s voice tells Julius that Saito passed away. Julius recognizes that he has been keeping away from his former professor in order to avoid the “drama of death, its unpleasantness” (183). The woman on the phone says the funeral will be private—for family only—but the College might have a public memorial. Julius doesn’t know whom to talk to about this death, as he and Saito had no friends in common.

Eventually, Julius calls Nadège and tells her about Saito’s death. When she answers, he can hear another man in the background. Nadège tells Julius that the man is her fiance and that he should not call again for a while. After getting off the phone, Julius can’t decide what music to listen to, and goes out to deliver a package—a book for Farouq.

Julius walks through Morningside Park. Outside the post office, he sees a man washing the feet of a homeless man and talking with him in Spanish. The man working in the post office, Terrence (aka Terry), talks to Julius about Africa being his motherland and recites some poetry about the oppression of Black people. Terrence invites Julius to see him perform at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. Julius outwardly agrees, but inwardly decides to never visit this particular post office again. He gives the homeless man outside his change from the postage.

After taking the subway, Julius walks to a busy square on East Broadway, on the edge of Chinatown. Most people there are originally from China or other parts of East Asia, except one Black man who wipes off his topless torso before riding away on his bicycle. Julius goes into a shop that sells a wide variety of items and feels timeless. A parade passes by outside with music and smiling Buddhas. The song reminds Julius of a song he heard in his Nigerian Military School, and this connection is disorienting for him.