The Weight of All Things

Dr. Eddy appears white, or gringo, but his mother is Mexican, and he speaks Spanish. He has bright blonde hair and a jovial nature. He shakes Alvarado and Nicolás’s hand when he gets off the bus. Alvarado tells him that they will walk to Gerardo’s mother’s house and along the way they must not speak. When they arrive with their coolers full of medicine and blood, they thank La Niña Tencha for her hospitality and ask to use her cooler for their supplies.

The men sleep outside, and Nicolás falls asleep cradling the statue of Our Lady and thinking of the letter being mailed to his mother. He is awoken by La Niña Tencha making breakfast and coffee. She says that she told the people in her neighborhood that there is a doctor at her house. She tells him that soon many people will arrive for treatment. A long line of neighbors arrives, and Dr. Eddy patiently examines each. Nicolás helps him. A pregnant woman complains of an upset stomach. Dr. Eddy asks what she has been eating and she tells him beans, tortillas, and green mangoes. He prescribes her medication, which is really just Tums, an antacid. The placebo effect works right away. Dr. Eddy also helps an old man with an infected wound on his ankle. He tells the old man to keep his wound out of the river when fishing because the water is not clean. Finally, Nicolás helps Dr. Eddy with a very sick baby who has a high fever. He uses one of his tangerines from Alvarado to get the baby to suck down medicine. Nicolás is such a good helper that Dr. Eddy offers to teach him when they reach the rancho. 

At the rancho, Nicolás is bringing buckets of water up a steep hill when he is overcome by a fever. Mario follows Nicolás into the kitchen where Carmen tells him he needs to rest. Nicolás lays down under a tree in the shade and wonders if he just has heat exhaustion. He sees Chema, the man who had been operated on earlier in the week, lying on a cot with an oozing wound. Next to him is a man named Samuel, whose leg was destroyed by shrapnel. Tata works on making firebombs for Dolores. Carmen brings Nicolás fish soup, which only makes him feel worse. He decides he needs to be with his Virgencita and makes his way to the cave.

Lying in his hammock, he recalls an occasion when his mother and Basilio Fermin picked him up to see Monsignor Romero. He recalls Romero’s words, which implored the people not to give up. Nicolás sees Basilio Fermin carving a lamb from wood and his mind wanders, confusing past with present. Mario wakes him from his stupor, and Nicolás tells him how sick he is. Mario comes back with his mother, who retrieves Doctor Eddy. Nicolás tells him that his head is throbbing, and his body hurts to the bone. Dr. Eddy takes his temperature, which is 103 degrees Fahrenheit.

Nicolás is familiar with degrees in Celsius and he knows that a temperature of 41 is enough to kill a person, so he believes that with a temperature of 103 he is sure to die. in his fevered state he experiences what he feels to be dying. He thinks of his mother and imagines her finding him, exclaiming “I bet you thought I was dead!” (95). He thinks he is trapped in a tunnel and he hears La Ziguanaba calling to him. He also hears the voice of Our Lady, which comforts him. Occasionally he is aware of Tata pressing a cool rag to his head and the IV pumping medicine into his veins. After four days his fever is over and Nicolás leaves the cave. Dr. Eddy tells him that his fever is down to 98. Nicolás hopes that Our Lady will keep him safe until his temperature reaches the thirties, still not understanding the difference between Fahrenheit and Celsius.