Summary

At the dinner with Adelina and Lucinda, Urania mentions Manuel Alfonso, the playboy who chose women for Trujillo. In 1961, Agustin visits Manuel Alfonso at his house. Once a handsome man, a tumor and subsequent operation in his throat has disfigured Manuel, leaving him thin and able to speak only “as if he were chewing pebbles” (257). Both Agustin and Urania remember his origins as a Dominican immigrant to New York, who caught Trujillo’s attention with his appearances on Colgate ads. Trujillo made him his interpreter, uniform designer, and pimp.

Agustin tells Manuel about his fall from grace, and Manuel sympathizes. In the present, Urania tells about how she made a vow to remain a virgin if The Virgin Mary would help her father out of his difficulties. In 1961, Manuel returns from an audience with Trujillo and visits Agustin. He remarks on Urania’s beauty...