Tropic of Orange

The crowd following Arcangel helped him as he pulls the bus into San Ysidro; he does not even really have to pull anymore. Along the way, he is warned to go back by the people he encounters. He and the crowd claimed to be pilgrims. They make it to Angel’s Flight, a funicular that takes passengers up Bunker Hill in downtown Los Angeles. Arcangel “stood at the top of Angel’s Flight, looking out over the City of Angels with his arms raised to the heavens and his body fastened to an entire continent” (182). He performs magic tricks and draws a crowd. He announces his “scheduled bout in the Ultimate Wrestling Championship known to everyone as El Contrato Con América” (183). The crowd surges forward upon seeing Arcangel’s orange, the last orange in the city. Sol grabs it and runs, “[a]nd everything in that geographic nexus churned around and around and around” (183).

Listening to car talk radio, Buzzworm makes his way to Manzanar Murakami with the contents of the package that Rafaela sent to Gabriel. Inside the small cooler is a Tupperware container, containing a zip lock bag filled with fluid and “a tiny purple slimy thing padded tenderly by what was now tepid refrigeration” (185).