The Dew Breaker

This story features Dany, whom readers should recall from Part 2 as one of Eric’s roommates. The setting is Haiti, where Dany has returned without alerting any of the people he plans to visit. He is hiking along a mountain, on his way to find his father’s sister, Estina, who is now quite old. Dany has not seen her since leaving Haiti for New York 10 years ago.

Dany, who has never made this journey without his mother, gets lost on the mountain, but he persists and eventually encounters a remote village. He speaks Creole to the inhabitants when he arrives. An old man (we later learn Old Zo is his name) in the village informs him that he knows Dany’s aunt (as no one in these mountains is a stranger) and takes him to her village. The old man mentions that he knows Dany’s story: Dany survived a fire that killed his father and mother, and nearly Estina as well.

Estina’s home is a single-room dwelling bordered by a banana grove and next door to a family mausoleum. She is not home, but Dany encounters many old acquaintances while he waits for her. He is slightly disconcerted that many of these old acquaintances still remember idle promises he made when he left, to send them gifts and money from America.