Summary

“M+M” takes place over ten years, between 1998-2008 in Valle del Cauca. The story is told in the present tense by a third-person narrator, focused through the comandante of the communist rebellion, who is the same blond boy the Professor remembered in “Lemon Pie.” The story begins with el comandante imagining conversation between him and unnamed person who accuses him of “[not] say[ing] anything” to her about his position in the rebellion (60). The voice accuses him of not thinking about it when he was handed “a pair of black rubber boots with yellow bottoms” (63) and asked to join the communist rebellion.

The imagined voice then remembers her time in school with el comandante, back in 1998, saying she knew he was poorer than most children. The voice reveals her name to be Mariela and el comandante’s name to...