Summary

Part Two begins with the narrator’s description of an experience at dusk: “I’m standing out back of the Nicaraguan town of Masaya. A volcano sends up a cloud of steam in the distance – Far off there’s a black storm, full of lightning. Overhead it’s clear. Two stars are already visible” (101). She describes having a conversation with a traveler from Wisconsin, a musician traveling with fellow musicians. It is, the narrator comments, the end of her first day traveling with the Englishman, who has gone off to do a bit of exploring. The narrator and the musician make small talk, including comments on how strange and seemingly uncivilized they find this part of the world. Their conversation comes to an end when the narrator says something she does not remember and the musician reacts in shock. Then the Englishman...