A Decision at Dawn
Before sunrise she washed her face with cold water and looked at herself in the dull windowpane. The elegant woman with careful makeup was gone. A tired mother remained, with a firm gaze. She would look for work. She could not depend on anyone, not even on Damián’s generosity. Roof or not, family or not, she had to stand on her own—out of dignity and need.
She asked Camila to watch the little ones and went door to door in Tlaquepaque: restaurants, bakeries, a tamale stall. Many refusals, a few suspicious looks, a few unkind words—but she did not stop. Finally, near the crafts market, a woman named Doña Remedios listened.
