Fruit of the Drunken Tree

Chula and Cassandra begin the final quarter of the school year, and Chula senses impending misfortune. Without Papá’s knowledge or permission, Mamá takes the girls to Soacha to see liberal presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán give a speech at a campaign rally. When they arrive, they join a chaotic parade of supporters, and Chula is quickly swept away from her mother and lost in the crowd. A man lifts her up, she spots Mamá and Cassandra, and she climbs over people’s heads until she is reunited with them. When Galán walks onstage, gunshots fire, and someone screams that the candidate has been killed.

In the ensuing scramble, Chula is knocked to the ground, and her hand is crushed under someone’s boot. Mamá drags her up and carries her and Cassandra to their car. She speeds away recklessly. They hear on the car radio that “Galán is in a hospital fighting for his life” (72). Mamá, who never cries, weeps at the wheel. When they reach home, Petrona is there, although she is not supposed to be. Petrona tends to Chula’s broken hand and the severe bruises on her legs.