Summary

When Julián got “home from work” one day, he found the message “Get out of my house, motherfucker” written on the wall in “red paint” (25). Before finding the paint can, he thought it was blood. The memory is tinged with images of Karla cutting herself and writing with her blood. Although he had been “a selfish bastard,” he had never been “a motherfucker” (25). Besides, Karla had been absent for months.

Julián took his bonsai and left. For weeks, he slept on friend’s couches, drank heavily, and retold the story. Meanwhile, the bonsai struggled. It was nearly dead when he finally found a place to live. He “didn’t spend that time at his parents’” because he was pretending “not to have a family” (26).

He found Verónica’s address in a rental ad. Remembering his enchantment with the...