Yes, it is very hot, the coast by the Pacific, unbearably hot. The plain is swampy, the desert barren. And the people are bitterly poor. All three, the mother, Suzanne, and Joseph, had thought that buying a horse was a good idea. A horse with a cart would lead them out of the godforsaken life they were living, would take them to Ram, and in the sight of people, they would find comfort and distraction. But the horse did not eat, it hung its head and died after eight days.