Edwidge Danticat's Everything Inside

Focus Story: Without Inspection

Six and a half seconds to fall five hundered feet.. six and a half seconds to watch your life flash before your eyes

Arnold is an undocumented immigrant to the U.S.; he fled his native Haiti for the promise of a better life in the States. He was lucky to survive the voyage to the U.S. and luckier still to encounter a woman named Darline — another immigrant — who rescues him from the beach where he washed up and finds him shelter in his new country.

Notable Quotes

"This landing was even more abrupt than his last one. His free fall ended as his body slammed into the drum of the cement mixer. He was being tossed inside a dark blender full of grout."

Every few seconds, his face would emerge from under the wet, pounded sand and pebbles, and he would keep his mouth closed, trying to force air out through his nose and push away the grainy mix that his body was trying to inhale."

"They loved each other and they loved him. He was their son. He wanted to see Darline and Paris again. If only one last time. He wanted to see their faces."

"The lightness returned. That airless sensation of his body evaporating. Darline and Paris were fading, too. They were becoming distant longings, silhouettes, shadows fading on the ground.""

Want to see how this story unfolds? Check out this short story in Edwidge Danticat's Everything Inside