In the Midst of Winter

After Evelyn was reunited with her mother in Chicago, she went to live with her, Galileo, and their two children in a trailer. While Miriam and Galileo worked long hours cleaning offices and painting houses, Evelyn attended high school and watched over the two children. Occasionally, they would be frequented by Doreen, Galileo’s daughter from another woman. Doreen was a junkie who frequently demanded money from Galileo. Galileo always relented to encourage her speedy departure.

One day, Doreen came into the trailer looking for Galileo while he was gone. She spotted Evelyn and attacked her, demanding to know where the money was hidden in the house. Evelyn hit her head on the kitchen counter and blacked out from the impact. Realizing what she had done, Doreen left immediately. A neighbor who heard the commotion came by the trailer and called the police.

When the police arrived at the hospital, they interrogated Evelyn and her family members about her undocumented status. Evelyn tried to explain that her documents washed away while trying to cross the river into the U.S., but the immigration officer insisted that since several years have passed since that time, they should have issued new documents by then. Galileo attempted to stand up for Evelyn, insisting that “No one is illegal in this life” (225). However, the officer was undeterred, claiming that without proper documentation proving her age, Evelyn could be considered eighteen years old and therefore no longer a minor. Without her minor status, she could be deported. She would have to prove her refugee status in immigration court. Despite the extremity of her circumstances, her experiences with gang violence in Guatemala was not unique to court narratives, so her luck would depend on the judge assigned to her case.

While Galileo wanted Evelyn to go through the long court process, Miriam found another way through the help of her local church. A colleague at the church provided Miriam with a contact in New York where Evelyn could go to find work. Evelyn took a bus to New York and began work with the Leroys.

Lucia and Evelyn share that Kathryn Brown has visited them in their dreams as their lost siblings have in the past. Lucia shares her story of how her mother finally saw the ghost of Enrique as she was preparing for death. Obsessed with finding Enrique, Lena’s health gradually deteriorated until she barely ate. It became difficult for her to consume any food. She began to see visions of Enrique beside her who would explain the circumstances around his death. When she finally passed, she said to everyone in the room, “I love you very much, little ones. Let’s go now, Enrique” (236).

When Richard, Lucia, and Evelyn review their plan to sink the car with Kathryn’s body into the lake, Lucia suddenly experiences guilt and states, “[…] we can’t go through with this” (127). When Richard begins to protest, Lucia shares that she knows how the loss of Enrique plagued her mother until her death; she does not want to reproduce the same pain for Kathryn’s family who are looking for her. She proposes leaving Kathryn’s body in the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York, which is a spiritual place that she feels would be a good resting place for Kathryn.

Richard eventually agrees. While Evelyn waits in Horacio’s lake house, Richard and Lucia move Kathryn’s body from the Leroys’ car to Richard’s vehicle. They find a gun that belongs to Mr. Leroy, which they leave inside the house before driving both cars to a nearby bluff. Richard and Lucia manage to send the Leroys’ car into the lake with great difficulty. Richard estimates that the ice will freeze over the lake again in the next few days, which means that the car will not be found until spring when the ice thaws. When Lucia tells Richard that they will be forgiven for being part of this crime as they are assisting an undocumented woman out of compassion, Richard states, “No act of compassion will save me from my own hell” (244).