Saints and Misfits

On vacation in Florida with her father and stepmother, Janna is at the beach and is wearing a burkini—a women’s swimsuit that covers the entire body, leaving only the hands, feet, and face exposed. She waits until no one is looking before she gets out of the water. Her father asks her why she doesn’t wear a swimsuit like her stepmother, Linda, but she reminds him that she is a hijabi (a woman who wears a hijab) and must therefore dress more modestly. Under the bleachers, she removes her swim cap and thinks of her favorite author, Flannery O’Connor. Wishing that she had packed her book of short stories on this vacation with her dad, Janna admits that the real reason she agreed to go in the first place was because she was trying to get away from a monster in Eastspring, but she can’t tell anyone about it.

This chapter describes an incident that occurred in Eastspring prior to Janna’s vacation with her dad. In this incident, Janna is at the house of her friend, Fidda “Fizz” Noor. They are watching television in the basement, but when Fizz runs upstairs to say goodbye to her grandparents, Fizz’s cousin,