Woman of Light

Three years after Pidre moves to the mining town of Animas, he saves up enough money to invest in his own business. His business partner Mickey takes him to a distant section of town where they meet a man named Otto. Otto shows Pidre a red-rock natural structure surrounding a beautiful meadow. Pidre agrees to buy the property. Later, he and Mickey attend a traveling Wild West show. In addition to reenactments of western battles and a horrific show in which a man fights a starving, toothless bear to death, Pidre watches the performance of a woman sharpshooter named Simodecea. She gained notoriety for accidentally killing her husband when a bear attacked her during a past performance, breaking both her legs. Pidre goes to her dressing room after the show, introduces himself, and says, “I have a theater made of red stone. I need my star attraction, and I want you” (79). Simodecea agrees, so long as there are no bears involved.

Working side by side at the laundry, Luz and Lizette discuss how difficult it is to be a parent. Luz remembers her mother Sara, which often causes her to cry. She remembers her and Diego’s displacement to Denver, when a stranger looked at her and said to her brother, “Your elders are in the little one” (83).