Chapter 8 Summary

Outside, John describes for Bernard everything he can remember—Linda singing strange rhymes to him and lying with him in the big bed, until he was kicked out by a man who came. There were a lot of men, but one of them, Popé, came often, bringing gourds of mescal, which Linda said ought to be called soma, except mescal made you feel sick in the morning. One time, a group of women held Linda down and whipped her. When he tried to intervene, the women whipped him, too. Later, he tried to comfort her, but Linda called him a savage and said she wouldn't be his mother. She started to beat him, but then stopped to put her arms around him and kiss him. Some days, Linda didn't get up at all, and often there was nothing to eat but cold tortillas...