At dawn, the surgeon came out, tired and unhurried and, at last, smiling.

“It went well,” she said.

“Joaquín is stable.

The new portion of liver has begun to work.

Santiago is still in a delicate condition, and the road is long — but he has passed through the most dangerous part of it.

He’s going to have a chance.” The hallway broke into tears and embraces — strangers holding strangers, students weeping on shopkeepers, Magdalena folded into her husband’s arms.

Aurelio leaned against the wall to keep himself upright.