Chapter Eight Summary

Don Federico Tellez Unzategui is married with four children and has made the business his life's work. As a child, Don Federico was left alone at home with his sister while his parents attended a baptism overnight. The weather was hot, so he took refuge outside near the river where he eventually dozed off to sleep. Don Federico woke at dawn and found himself surrounded by dozens of rats clawing and biting him. He called out to the farmhands working, and with their help managed to ward off the colony of rats. Unfortunately, when they went to check on his baby sister, all that was left of her were bones.

The tragedy led to an obsessive crusade against rats and turned Don Federico into a man with strange habits and eccentricities. He started Rodent Exterminators Inc., where he strictly enforced punctuality...