Across A Hundred Mountains

Adelina remembers when she first met Diana begging on the streets on Christmas Eve. Adelina convinced Diana to come with her to the shelter. Later, Adelina remembers her first date with Sebastian at a seafood restaurant, where it is revealed that she attended college at Cal State.

Juana’s mother used to keep an altar to La Virgen de Guadalupe in their home, but lately she has stopped maintaining it. One day, in mid-March, Amá says cryptically, “‘I must try to offer something more powerful than prayers or tears’” (128). Juana remembers that the town’s annual reenactment of the passion of Christ—when Jesus carried the cross to his crucifixion—is in just a few weeks. Juana only attended the reenactment once as a child, and was horrified by the flagelantes, men and women who self-flagellated to show their penitence. Amá has stopped drinking, and spends her nights making something that she won’t allow Juana to see. One day, Juana finds a paper bag filled with small metal nails and realizes her mother is participating in the flagelantes. At the reenactment, Juana wants to stop her mother, but Doña Martina insists, “‘Let her finish, Juana.