Summary

Leslie is living in Nicaragua and teaching children at a small school. She is uncertain how to tell this story and structures this essay according to the functions of a folktale outlined by Vladimir Propp in his book Morphology of the Folktale. Though women are generally instructed not to walk alone at night, Granada, where Leslie is living, is safe. She is told not to be afraid and not to buy into American stereotypes about Nicaragua. Without warning, Leslie is punched in the face by a man on the street who takes her wallet and camera. Her nose is broken and she goes to a bar where she knows the employees who give her wet rags and ice for her to put against her face.

Later, the police ask her to identify a suspect but they have detained the wrong man...