I grew up surrounded by fields and the valley landscape can be almost oppressive in its unending flatness, but there are times - whether because of the weather, the clouds, the light - where I'm overwhelmed by its immense beauty, by its ability to catch me off guard even though I've lived there my entire life.

With Tatiana’s mother wailing out the bay windows of their tiny living room, and her mother’s boyfriend driving his clankety-clank Ford around mad, and the police officers having done their so-called part, and the church people littering the streets with Xerox copies of her school picture, and even the ice cream truck driver getting questioned, it was up to us now.  Somebody had to use common sense.

They would wait for him every day at dismissal, hiding behind the Batey School’s perimeter wall, until Segundo would appear through the gates, one able body in a procession of helmets, wheelchairs, and boxy walkers, all reflecting sunlight.