Tio Jorge

It is a couple of weeks after her graduation and Rebecca gets a letter from a lawyer who her estranged father had entrusted with delivering a package to her on her twenty-first birthday. The package leads her to a safe deposit box where she learns something special about her father.

In this episode George gives us a snapshot of his reclusive life in a Northern California trailer park where he has been living the eight years since he got out of prison. He has a visitor, his cellmate from when he was inside.

In this episode we meet Rebecca on the day of her graduation from Stanford University, 15 years after her mother's death. She has been living a life of privilege with her maternal grandparents in Hillsborough, California and has had no contact with Tio Jorge since the day the police took him away. She thinks she sees him in the crowd at her graduation ceremony.

The novel begins in the voice of Tio Jorge (George), who describes a tragic event that happens when he is out jogging along the California coast. He is visiting his friend, Miguel, now married to an upper class California girl. They have a daughter, Rebecca, who is five years old.