Summary

In Chapter 10, Jonás postpones coming home. The narrator thinks about metamorphosis and what would happen if she became “a duck or a rock” (72). She believes metamorphosis is the “continuation of a character’s story: it can be a punishment or a gift” (72). The narrator reflects on her recovery in the hospital, the low points, the pain and discomfort.

In Chapter 11, the narrator overhears a couple talking about leaving “the dwarves with her mother” (75), and she thinks it is cruel. She realizes she has not seen the dwarf that she sees on the street. The narrator dreams of Ernesto and his father, feeling “comfortable and protected” (75) by Ernesto’s father. She contemplates loneliness and her difficulty in reading her father’s handwriting. The narrator travels to the Oaxaca Book Fair. She misses a call from Jonás. When she talks to Jonás...