“ ‘Behind the wall of rubber trees grows the grove of mahogany. Three kilometers by three kilometers, thousands of trees so close it is like night in there all the time. Beya says the men that plant the rubber, the barons, have despair because that trade dies, so they cut down the forest and plant mahogany. The grove grows for many, many years. Generations of men kill each other for the secret, until only the Tatinga know where it is. Lots of people say the grove is a myth, but I know the truth.’ ”

Omar took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes. “How’m I doing?”

“You get an A.”

“Your turn. A secret about you.”

I nodded, pushing myself to my feet. “It’s not a secret, more of a request. I want to go on a hunt with you.” I couldn’t get Doña Antonia’s words out of my head: you never prepare the game. She was right. I couldn’t bring myself to do it, yet by now I ate meat every chance I got—animals that others risked their lives to hunt or spent their time dressing. Perhaps it was also boredom with the other “women’s work.” The biggest draw: a hunt would mean more time with Omar, in a world that he knew like no other.

“You’re pregnant—”

“The other women go with you, and some of them have been pregnant, too—”

“It’s too hard, Lily. They clean the game, they build the shelters. Lots of bugs, you wouldn’t like it.” He got up and brushed himself off, as in: case closed.

“You don’t know that.”

“So now you want to kill the animals, too?”

“Maybe I’ll feel better about eating them. I don’t know. I want to be with you, to learn what you know.”

“You need to be able to run, Lily.”

“I can run.”

“If you can’t, I’m going to have to leave you behind. We can’t lose the game, waiting for you.”

“I can run,” I said, scampering out after him into the blaze of sun as if to demonstrate, all the way down the hill to the waiting boats and men, their women packing the second sloop with supplies.

He threw his gear in the boat, joked with the men for a time, then turned back to me, pulled me aside. “You know, Liliana, if we decide to stay here that long, you’re going to have our baby in the rainy season. It’s a very hard time, very dangerous.” I rubbed my belly, picturing the flooded forest, snakes floating up to the windowsills, manatees drifting under the huts like dark clouds. “Everyone has to work together, the men, the women, children. Everybody. So talk to the women more. A lot of them still don’t know you.”

“I will, I will.”

“I’ll tell For God’s Sake to show you how to use a pistol. Are you ready to do that?”

“Anytime.”

“It’s really that important to you, Lily, to go on a hunt?”

“It is, just once.”