Night at the Fiestas

Ofelia Alma Zamora was named after her grandmother. She is 11 years old. Ofelia is sick with an ailment that no one can diagnose or cure. She wonders if her illness was caused by the evil eye. She lives with her grandfather in a small village, and on this particular morning, they are going to Albuquerque on their monthly supply run. Ofelia used to wish that they lived in the nearby community of Estancia because it is larger than their tiny hamlet, but her grandfather once explained to her that their ancestors were among the first people granted land in this area. She realizes now that their roots in this place run deep and that they will continue to live here until the town itself dies out. Ofelia’s mother left them both seven years ago, and although Ofelia’s grandfather has tried to explain that her mother was too young to take responsibility for a child, Ofelia still misses her. Occasionally, she will catch sight of her mother somewhere, and she always observes the woman in quiet fascination.

Ofelia is sure that the evil eye is going to kill her, and she does her best to enjoy the routine of her days with her grandfather. One day, she and her grandfather think that they see Ofelia’s mother. Neither can truly be sure, but the incident prompts her grandfather to tell her a horrible story about her mother. He admits that he himself was abusive in his marriage to his wife, Ofelia’s grandmother. Ofelia’s mother witnessed this abuse, which scarred her. Ofelia wishes that her grandfather had not shared this information with her, but she does reflect on her own memories of her mother. She recalls her mother coming back to collect her things after having left Ofelia with her grandmother. At the time, Ofelia was angry and resentful, but now she wonders now if she could have influenced her mother to stay if she had behaved differently. She believed that the man who drove her mother home to pack her possessions might have given her the evil eye, but Ofelia now thinks that she cursed herself. Despite what her grandfather has told her, she still feels a deep connection to him, and she hopes to die just a few seconds after he does so that the two of them will never be parted.