Summary

In Chapter 1, Maya gave birth. Because her lover Corazón, a wealthy man she had met on a cruise, had abandoned her, she could not care for the child. Before giving birth, “she’d been having” the same dream repeatedly (25). In the dream, a man with a hump told her she would birth “a son whose mission would be to change the face of the world” (25).

Maya left the baby in her hut, passing “the Ballandras’ house” as she departed (25). Eulalie Ballandra’s dog barked at the disturbance. Eulalie investigated the hut. Finding the abandoned child, she brought him home to her husband Jean Pierre.

In Chapter 2, Jean Pierre and Eulalie adopted the child, naming him Pascal. They had tried to have children without success. They made their income “from their nursery,” The Garden of Eden (28).

The couple welcomed Pascal at the Place...