Departing at Dawn

Contents

Contents ix Introduction 1 A Pig’s Head 4 The Ring 9 A World Within a World 13 This is My Family 19 Listening to the Radio 29 Flowers 35 The Photograph 40 Aunt Avelina 47 Her Body 52 Twenty-one Years Old 57 Tristán Nepomuceno 61 Ave María 68 Perhaps 73 The Messenger 83 Hell 89 The Window 102 Olpa 108 The Indian 114 A Visitor 119 Cachirú 124 Lusaper Gregorian 135 Singing 142 Yacumama 151 Holy Wood 161 Notes 163 Historical Note 167 Translator’s Afterword To Regina Thanks to Teresa Leonardi, Antonio Gutiérrez, and Pancho Galíndez, who still laugh at me; to Mario Benedetti, bookstore owner in Salta; and to Rossana Caramella. The story that follows is entirely fiction. In memory of Isauro Arancibia, his brother, Atilio Santillán, and Trinidad Iramain, whom I was never able to meet, because they were killed without ever being charged or having the right to a defense. ...