Summary

Twelve year-old Jaime Rivera hears a scream from the kitchen and runs in to check on his parents. They hug him tightly and he worries about what might have happened. He remembers an incident from two weeks ago involving his former friend, Pulguita and Jaime’s cousin Miguel. Pulguita was drunk and smoking cigarettes when he offered the cousins the opportunity to earn some money through unsavory channels. The cousins refused. In the present, Jaime’s parents tell him that Miguel was killed by the Alphas gang.

Miguel’s family and friends gather in his house and grieve together. Jaime is disturbed by the brutal image of Miguel’s body in the casket and tries to remember his cousin as he was before. He draws a picture of Miguel and shows it to Ángela, Miguel’s teenage sister, assuaging her pain somewhat. Miguel...