Chapters 27-29 Summary

In Chapter Twenty-Seven, "A Gentleman Farmer in Pinar del Rio," nine years have passed since Joe first met Emma Gould. He and Graciela have been living in Cuba almost a year, with Joe occasionally returning to Tampa for business. They buy a bankrupt coffee plantation in the Pinar del Rio province and hire a man named Illario "Ciggy" Bacigalupi to manage it. Ciggy says the plantation was a major employer before the previous owner took to drink. The area is now impoverished, but with Ciggy's help, workers are employed again and the plantation begins to flourish. Meanwhile, Graciela renovates the house. Listening to the sounds of the peasant boys playing stickball in the field, Joe watches his little son, Tomas, and thinks about having another child. His father's watch is no longer keeping good time, and he reluctantly sends it from...