Only a sliver of the sun is visible behind the hills, the last rays of daylight illuminating the sky as it faces off against the encroaching darkness of night. Rosa and Marcos have spent the entire day at the foot of Juli’s grave. They are very tired, but they haven’t cried in a long time. Marcos is trying to convince Rosa that they need to leave the house. They have to go. Rosa is beginning to see that it will be very difficult for just the two of them, without any livestock, to move forward, but she resists leaving everything behind. She fears it might be a hasty reaction, a result of the shock from Juli’s death. She is confused and doesn’t know what makes sense and what doesn’t.
“It’s too sudden, Marcos.”
“What else do you want to wait for? We can leave tomorrow morning.”
“But where?”
“North, we’ll go north.”
“And what will we do ‘up north’? Do you understand that you’re asking me to leave everything we have behind to go to a place you can’t even tell me where it is?”
“We’ll find people along the way who will guide us.”
“Marcos, I need more than that. What do we take with us? What will we do when autumn comes? And in the winter? Where are we going?!”
“First, we’ll go to Cal Mulater.”
Rosa feels confused. Cal Mulater is to the east. It’s a farmhouse where some friends of theirs live. They are very kind people. They meet a few times a year at the Plana market.
“But don’t you want to go north?”
“They told me at Cal Mulater they would guide us.”
“Who told you that? And if they know how to get to such a magical place, why are they still living at Cal Mulater?”
“Enough! Rosa! Enough! Enough doubts! Enough questions! I need to get out of here!” Marcos explodes and jumps up, his eyes glistening. “There’s nothing left for us here! And I can’t see this every day for the rest of my life!” he says, standing, pointing at Juli’s grave. “A part of us is buried here! But we have to live! And I can’t live seeing my own grave!”
The tears have returned. Marcos has tears on his cheeks, and Rosa’s eyes begin to shine.
