Summary

To hide from the men coming to pick up the milk and keep a lookout for the search party, the boy spent the morning under an almond tree on a hill. The goatherd had sent him on his way with some meat, cheese, and bread. He ate a little but was frustrated that the goatherd hadn’t given him any water.

He began to explore an abandoned adobe house nearby in the hopes of finding a well. Coming across a fig tree, he indulged in memories of summer afternoons of ripe fruit. Finally, he discovered a broken, poorly made wind pump and an empty well.

Disappointed, he hid in the sparse shade from the noon sun and reflected on his family’s water barrel. Once, when the boy’s mother had let the level of water in the barrel get lower than usual, his...