Chapter 10 Summary

Realizing that he must help in some way or they will starve, Juan goes far to the south of Juarez looking for firewood to sell. After many hours, he finds a small bush. Digging it up with his bare hands until they are bloody, he finds that most of the good wood is underground. After finally getting enough to sell, he falls asleep in exhaustion, alone in the desert. Upon waking and wrapping the wood with the rope he used as a belt, he finds that he does not have enough strength to carry this small bundle. Back at home he could heft a bundle twice this size and carry it easily. He has a talk with God, telling him that he is tired of promises but no help, and that he needs the help for his mother, not for himself, but the...