Migrating Birds

Victor gets a real sense of power from making his own raisins. He buys pounds and pounds of grapes and leaves them to dry on the kitchen table. Theresa doesn’t want to hear about her ex-husband’s cancer. Not on Father’s Day. She takes a train all night to have breakfast with her cousin. All Sunday she rides the train back. Once Martin’s wife had left, he decided to take advantage of her space. He built a sauna where her closet was, and now sits there every morning to read the paper and Buddha. One night Helga wore her prettiest dress, thought she knew he wouldn’t be there. She drank white wine, got drunk (she was on a diet), and fell down. Later he saw the holes in her pantyhose. María was usually bumping into furniture. Each time she got closer to what she wanted. “What do you want from me?” “Nothing,” he replied, so she took off and felt like migrating birds. But many.