Summary

Chapter 26, “The Hour of the Fog.” That night and the following day, as a storm brings hail to the house and to the neighborhood, Mama and the girls wait for Papa to come home. Mama had told him about the attempted kidnapping, and he had said he would come home right away, but he is late. Cassandra and Chula occupy themselves as Mama speaks almost constantly on the phone. Eventually, all three learn that Papa has been kidnapped by the guerillas, who are demanding ransom that Papa’s American employers are refusing to pay. Mama records the guerillas’ phone calls and arranges for the family’s money to be sent to them, the whole family worrying about stories they have heard about how the guerillas do not return people they have kidnapped even when ransom has been paid. Throughout all this, the news...