Summary

“Only the Living Understand” began with Francisco writing a check for a new tractor and hives for Simonopio’s bees. Francisco worried about retaining his beloved ancestral land and wealth in the wake of the Agrarian Reform. Despite his careful transfer of lands to trusted friends, Francisco feared that his uncultivated land could be seized by the government “on whims” (208). Agrarian vagabonds were circling lands they coveted. Francisco was proud of the sharecropping agreements he sustained. This included the 10 years of commitment from Espiricueta despite his inability to meet quotas. Francisco decided to lease some of his land and his tractor to increase his land’s agricultural productivity.

Francisco Junior remembers his mother’s lament of Simonopio’s childhood in “An Old Look in His New Look.” Since beginning to follow the bees, nine-year-old...