The Weight of All Things

In the morning Nicolás rises with the soldiers and performs his exercise with energy. He eats breakfast so quickly that Ofelia says he’s acting like he’s being chased. As Nicolás sweeps the sidewalks he sees the men getting ready for the rifle range. He asks if he is needed to carry the ammunition, but someone else already has the job. A soldier sees him watch the men and asks Nicolás if he wishes to have a uniform and rifle like them. Before he can answer, La Niña Rocio asks him to come into her store to help her.

She tells him that the shop smells good because of a vase of blood red roses. She needs help getting a key that she dropped under a shelf. Her key fell exactly at the point that he planned to break through that very night. He gets a chance to inspect the area he would be working through, and wonders if it is a miraculous opportunity provided by Our Lady. La Niña Rocio is so grateful that he is brave enough to stick his arm under the shelf (she is afraid of what bugs or creatures might lurk underneath) that she rewards him with two caramels. He puts them in his pocket along with his carved lion. As he walks away from the store, he remembers a tale his mother often told of an Indian man named Juan Diego, to whom “La Virgen Guadalupe appeared...On the hill where her figure stood, blood red roses bloomed...the flowers. The key. The shelf. His eyes so near the path of freedom. It was La Virgen’s doing. And it wasn’t even noon” (184). 

At 12:10 p.m., 30 soldiers are eating lunch. Lieutenant Galindo is away having his Jeep serviced. Vidal is posted at the entrance. La Niña Rocio sits on her stool listening to music. Nicolás is in the bathroom with an upset stomach. Unbeknownst to the Army, a truck filled with heavily armed guerrilleros heads toward the Garrison. Thirty guerrillas approach on foot, disguising their weapons. Three men in plain clothes approach the entrance of the garrison, one tipping his hat to Vidal before shooting him point blank. The other two men open fire and kill all of the guards. When the soldiers eating lunch hear the gunfire, they immediately go for their weapons, but they are surrounded by the truck full of guerrilleros and the thirty men on foot.

An enormous gunfire battle erupts, and the building is suffering major damage. Chabela is hit by a stray bullet. The captain fires at guerrilleros from his office before he is killed by their bullets. Silvia and Ofelia are in the kitchen, struggling to stay out of harm’s way. Ofelia screams at Nicolás that he must be an informant because he was acting so strangely all day. He ignores her and listens to the voice of Our Lady telling him he is a lion. He bares his teeth and roars like a lion, using his hands to claw open the wall inside the pantry. He struggles to get through to the store, and finally pulls himself through to the counter in the shop. La Niña Rocio is gone, and he hears the sounds of the kitchen behind him smashing. He is almost free when something hits him and knocks him forward. He touches his side and finds he is bleeding. He stumbles out of the shop, sees Vidal bleeding in the street, and looks across the road only to see a poster of La Virgen. He focuses on her and follows the sidewalk toward Alvarado’s house without looking back. 

Nicolás makes his way to Señor Alvarado’s house. A woman named Clara opens the door. Nicolás asks for help and tells them he has been shot in the attack that is taking place now at the armory. They can hear the explosions and gunfire from their open door. Alvarado picks Nicolás up and carries him to a bed. He inspects the wound and determines that he has been very lucky: the bullet has only grazed him, he will live. Nicolás declares it the miraculous work of La Virgen. Alvarado wants to know how Nicolás was injured, so he explains what has transpired since they last saw each other. He also admits to Alvarado that his mother is dead.

Nicolás tells them he must leave because he promised he would meet his grandfather in El Retorno, and that Ofelia thinks he is an informant. Alvarado assures him he will be safe with them. He cleans his wound and gives him pain medication. Nicolás sleeps for a very long time, dreaming that he is floating on a peaceful river. He is eventually awoken by the news on the radio, which gives a very different report than what actually happened. The news makes it sound like the guerrilla attack was unsuccessful, when in fact they raided the armory and killed most of the people at the garrison, including Ofelia.

Alvarado receives a phone call from Basilio Fermin. He tells Alvarado that he has been trying to help Tata and Nicolás find each other, and that his employer wants to help take care of them both. He tells Alvarado that he will pick Nicolás up in the morning and drive him to El Retorno to see his grandfather. Nicolás doesn’t understand what he is hearing from the one-sided conversation, only that someone is coming for him. He refuses to be captured. So, he plans to wait for Alvarado and Clara to fall asleep and then sneak out. When the moon is high, he quietly gets out of bed and dresses in the clean shirt left on a chair next to him. He puts his boots on as well as possible without being able to bend over. His wound hurts and he knows it will get worse if he doesn’t care for it properly, so he takes some gauze and ointment with him. He tiptoes through the hall, hearing Alvarado’s snores along the way, and hopes to find something to eat in the kitchen.

Suddenly a figure appears behind him and tells him not to be afraid. She asks where he is going. He tells her that he must find his grandfather. She asks if he is hungry and prepares him a sack of food to take with him. She tells him to be careful and to go slowly. As he leaves the house, he catches the smell of roses from the figure, and decides that she must be la Virgen, appearing to him once again to guide his way.