Nine years after the fact, Nelson reflects on his time with Diciembre, a theatre group with which he toured for two months following his graduation from the Conservatory. The group was legendary for its highly political performances, and Nelson partook in a play about an imperious President who, each day, gives a new citizen the honor of being his servant. Nelson played the President’s buffoonish son, and two other men—Henry, and Patalarga—played the President and servant. The trio began touring in early March, when Nelson was twenty-one and preoccupied with the expectation that he would soon leave the country and join his brother in California. The trio traveled through countless small towns and villages staging the play, and the journey, altitude, and cold weather proved hard on Nelson. Just two weeks in, he had already lost three kilograms—though he still mustered the energy to go to a party where he met a woman named Tania, who was Henry’s ex-wife and Patalarga’s second cousin. Tania sang mesmerizingly in Quechua, then walked Nelson home. He tried to kiss her, but she patted his head instead. The tour continued, and it culminated with a performance in the town of San Germán. On the first night, they learned that there would be technical difficulties, which interfered with their plan to perform for the miners in the village. Tensions rose between Henry and Patalarga, triggered by the revelation that a group of American engineers in San Germán lived much better than the miners, in what was basically a recreated American suburb. Nonetheless, the trio performed for a mixed crowd of engineers and miners, and their performance was a success. Flash forward to the present, and Nelson is struggling to find acting work. He never managed to join his brother in California due to visa troubles. His only hope is to land a role in a soap opera, playing a character by the same name as his character with Diciembre years earlier: Alejo. He tells Henry about the opportunity, but Henry is more interested in learning why Nelson never left the country. Nelson waits and waits to hear back about the result of his audition but, it is implied, he never does.