Her parents managed their grief by dedicating all their new work to their disappeared son. Naya typed out a book about Silvio, about missing sons and daughters, that Adriano had written on yellow legal pads. The absence came to define her parents’ minds. Though they never knew the circumstances of Silvio’s disappearance, their imaginings soon went beyond their original notions of robbery gone wrong or wool-murder. Maybe it was a political punishment; maybe he’d spoken up at school about the president. They linked Silvio to their own dissident art. Her parents’ pain made them even more eloquent than they had been before. After writing his second book—the famous one on animal rights and creative resistance—her father was invited to speak at other universities and art institutes.

Vivi was very withdrawn during high school. Her New York classmates voted her Most Ghostlike, and she joked to herself about the stupidity of voting anybody anything. She found her new country shrill. It deafened her. She tiptoed through her house and listened to phone calls through doors. She lost herself in dancing because it didn’t require speech. The first thing she appreciated about Alfonzo was his habit of leaning in and speaking softly. She had chosen Hapshire College because it was surrounded by majestic trees that muffled sounds. Vivi swaddled her body in layers: scarves and leg warmers and army surplus jackets. She threw herself into dance and psychology classes, and only saw Adriano and Naya at holidays. Only a few friends ever heard the story of Silvio. One, naturally, was Alfonzo, her first, truest love.

24.

Sometimes the vicuña whom an alpaca loved but rejected out of grief is not so lost. This era has so many air pockets. Extinct love might not be extinct. We can change our relationships. Sometimes the vicuña whom an alpaca loved but rejected is living only a few hours away, taking care of a rich dog’s beach house. Sometimes the alpaca can put aside his pride and shame and call the vicuña to talk about sea revolutions, and family wounds, and fights against corrupt mayors. It can even happen that the vicuña understands it all and invites the alpaca to visit. Trains to the shore leave every few hours from Atlantic Station. Animals smell one another’s emotional states. Many things are possible.

Viviana was living temporarily at the End of the World, a small island enclave off Long Island’s tip. To get there, Alfonzo would take the Ronkonkoma line to the last stop and then catch a ferry. She told him to meet her at the Red Clover Tavern.