Summary

“Rain” began with Neftalí unhappily doing addition problems for homework in his home in Temuco, Chile. In his room, he imagined that the numbers got up and marched off the page. Distracted by the outside world, Neftalí noticed the hole in the fence to the abandoned home next door, imagining a kindred spirit living there. He listened to the sound of the rain that seeped through the roof and dropped into pots. Neftalí mused about how the river flowed into the ocean and imagined himself as a ship’s captain out to sea. His reverie was interrupted by Father’s “conductor’s whistle” sounded from his bedroom door (10). He ordered Neftalí to “stop that incessant daydreaming” and return to bed to recover from a recent illness (10). Moreover, Father compared Neftalí to his late mother and the possibility that she had died from daydreaming...