Summary

Chapter 7, “The Pigeon,” returns to Sao Paulo, where Kazumasa dreamily stares out his window at the dancing conga lines that form on the weekends outside his apartment. Finally, his housekeeper Lourdes takes him out to the streets with her. Meanwhile, Tania Aparecida’s mother waits to receive a returning pigeon. She is surrounded by three bouncers, for protection, and a crowd of people, anxious to read the message, which are often “like those in fortune cookies” (40). Today’s message reads: “The Japanese with the ball will find friendship and fortune in Brazil” (39). The people do not know what the message means, though they encourage their Japanese friends to buy lottery tickets. Batista jokes that he has become a “prophet/fortuneteller” (41) to the “massive cult” (41) that waits every day at his doorstep to read the next message.

Lourdes, who...