The Weight of All Things

Once Nicolás is well he places Basilio Fermin’s carvings of a lamb and a lion next to his statue. Nicolás tells Tata about the letter that he sent to his mother and hopes she will return to fetch him along with Basilio Fermin. After a long day of fanning flies away from Chema’s festering wound, Nicolás and Tata are resting in the cave. Nicolás thinks about his temperature and how he asked Felix repeatedly to take it. Felix told him that his temperature was 37 centigrade which calmed Nicolás’s anxiety. Samuel’s fever, on the other hand, continues to rise. Felix determines that Samuels leg must be amputated.

Dr. Eddy would prefer to use a saw rather than a machete to perform the amputation. Dolores asks Nicolás to walk to El Retorno in the morning to retrieve a saw. Nicolás thinks about his journey and wonders what will happen if he and Tata are separated. He wakes Tata and shares his fear; they decide that if they are ever separated, they will meet at the church in El Retorno. Nicolás tells him that La Virgen speaks to him and tells him not to be afraid.