Fruit of the Drunken Tree

Mami laments that Petrona, who is white-skinned because of her imperial Spanish ancestry, must work for the dark-skinned Alma Santiago, who has Indian heritage. While at work, Petrona marvels at the Santiagos’ plentiful resources; in the invasión, by contrast, every meal is bread and soda. Chula reminds Petrona of Aurora. Petrona’s brother Ramón begs her to steal from the Santiagos, but Petrona promises to feed him with wages of honest work. She remembers her high-minded Papi, who rejected handouts from various militant groups. One day, local guerrillas give Ramón a sausage. Petrona chides him for accepting, but he retorts that he won’t starve for pride.

On Thursdays, Chula and Cassandra call their father at the oil site. Because the connection is poor, his sentences are interrupted and echoing. One day Chula hears Petrona laugh for the first time while they are watching TV. Chula feels numb to the constant news of war and death, except when occasional details strike her. She asks Petrona how she and her family can feel safe living in the invasión, and Petrona replies, “’There’s nothing to lose’” (35). One day they hear news of a nearby car bombing. The TV newscast shows the disembodied leg of a girl who is Chula’s age of seven years old. The girl is killed in the attack, and the image of “a blackened red shoe and a smoky white sock filled with leg” (36) haunts Chula. Mamá attempts to quell her daughters’ fear of death as Chula wonders what death feels like. Mamá hangs aloe and burns sage to “absorb all the bad energy” (40).

Ramón disappears. Petrona fears the guerrillas have recruited him. Petrona’s friend Leticia entices Petrona to make extra money by “passing information” (42) and delivering envelopes to men on motorcycles who are likely cartel members. Petrona recalls her father’s morality and refuses to engage in this illicit activity. Petrona has already lost her father and three brothers to the conflict, and she vows to protect Aurora.

Papá returns home from work for a period. Mamá coaches Petrona on what she can and cannot reveal to Papá. Mamá says Papá was once a communist. Papá is already drunk on whiskey when he arrives, and Mamá says he has no self-control. The girls are used to Mamá and Papá fighting when he is home. Chula admires Petrona’s graceful silence and tries to emulate her; in contrast, Mamá is “loud and grating” (51). After a week of bickering, Mamá and Papá make up and go on a date while Petrona babysits the girls. The girls pack “emergency backpacks” (52) with essentials, a weekly routine they began after the car bombing that killed the young girl. Cassandra says Pablo Escobar was behind the attack, but Chula thinks it might have been the guerrillas. Confused, she wonders if they are “one and the same” (53). Chula’s bed sits beside a wide window. She likes to watch the two cows outside. Imagining she is the security guard, she also looks out for “suspicious behavior” (54) in the neighborhood and makes notes in her diary. Papá returns to work. 

Aurora begins menstruating and is therefore expected to start working for the family. Overwhelmed with fear and responsibility, Petrona betrays her conscience and asks Leticia if she can start passing envelopes to make extra income. 

Isa and Lala are convinced that Petrona is under an evil spell. Chula begins tracking and documenting Petrona’s behavior. One day, Petrona willfully eats the fruit of the Drunken Tree and descends into a wild hallucinatory fit. Mamá gives her a tonic to make her vomit. Petrona stays with the Santiagos for a few days while she recovers her strength. The girls show Petrona their Barbies, whose limbs Cassandra has gnawed off. They invent fanciful back-stories to explain the Barbies’ limblessness. One Barbie ran from guerrillas until her legs wore off; another was chopped up by rebel guerrillas. Petrona chooses her own limbless Barbie and says hers was “born like this” (62). Their Barbies chant communist slogans. Petrona’s doll sings the Marxist anthem which Cassandra does not recognize.

Ramón returns home with money, telling the family he earned it by packing freight trains. Mami is overjoyed, and Petrona stops passing envelopes. One day, local children find Ramón dead. Neighbors say he was a guerrilla fighter, killed by the paramilitary. Petrona smells gunpowder on her twelve-year-old brother’s hands and realizes the neighbors were right, but Mami rages against the suggestion. Leticia visits Petrona’s house with a young man who introduces himself as Gorrión. Gorrión’s gaze entrances Petrona. He offers his savings to pay for Ramón’s burial. Mami angrily refuses, calling him racial slurs because he is black; she forbids Petrona from seeing him again. That night Gorrión visits Petrona in secret and tells her that he was Ramón’s friend and that he wants to take care of her family. He gives her an inhaler for her asthmatic mother. They share an intimate moment. The next day, the family buries Ramón in a shared plot on top of the casket of their neighbor’s deceased wife. Petrona briefly describes her delirium after eating the fruit of the Drunken Tree: she felt lightness, clarity, and relief.