Part 1, Conditions of Survival Summary

Santiago de Cuba. January, 1991. Reina is in the hospital recovering from her injuries. The doctors tell her that she is lucky to be alive. Few people survive a direct hit of lightening. The doctors have scraped the burnt flesh from her back many times. Imprints from her tools were branded into her hips. Her hoop earrings had burned holes in her neck. For weeks, her pores had oozed water and blood. Loved ones, friends and neighbors, including Pepín Beltran and her daughter Dulce had donated skin for skin grafts. Miraculously the skin grafts had taken, but Reina believed it may have been better to have died.

Pepín arrived from Havana with her father's books and ancient binoculars. Her thirty-two year old daughter, Dulce also visits. Dulce announces that she will marry and leave the country...