Isreal and Susanna came for him at the Missouri-Pacific station, where he has stayed for the last fifteen years. This is a well productive place all year round due to the underground water. KlailCity produces the best cabbage and the sweetest navel oranges. Israel helps him carry his barrack’s bag while Rafe informs him of a luggage he previously sent home, which Israel concurs. Israel and Susanna are accompanied by their son, Rafe.
Israel and Susanna named their son after Rafe since he was born during the period when the soldier was wounded for the first time. The kid was almost three years old (415). The next day he tells Israel that he will spend the day at home, in the ranch, and that he had to postpone Univeristy education until the next one or two years. However, he would go to Klail occasionally, visit some people though he would mostly stay in the ranch. Israel is very happy to know that Rafe will be around; they sit and start reflecting on their early years which leads to the main discussion on how they relate to each other.
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When Israel enquires about the other Buenrostros, Rafe says that Buenrostros are few, he and his two brothers, Aaron and Israel. The rest are their distant cousins. A week after coming home, he calls on Don Celso, Villalon’s father. He asks about what his brother had in his suitcase. Rafe starts showing them the gifts he carried. He brought a Japanese camera, pictures, and jackets. Rafe does not know his biological mother. He calls one of his aunts “mother”. Their house was peaceful and quiet, even when his father died while Rafe was barely eight years old and was brought home by his uncle Julian.
Susanna delivers another son without complication; the kid is named Juan. Rafe says he grew up on Vilches ranch, thus he knows all the land surrounding it like the back of his hand. He married after his first discharge, and his plans to attend college at Jonesville. The year after, on Easter Sunday, the families gather near Vilche’s river where one of them drowned earlier. However, a hail storm catches up with them on their way back from the river. The family to which Vielma’s son, Pepe, belonged last saw him when the reserve called them several months prior to the war. They had left Klail dressed in civilian clothes and William Berret where they wore uniform to and from FortBen. Two months down the line, they moved to Pier 92 inSeattle and, finally, to Japan. When he got home, the first thing he did was calling he Vielmas; they did not answer, they were not at home.
Rafe’s family was a happy one before he and Pepe joined the army. They were close as a family and usually had dinners together, but since they joined the army, things changed for the worse; he says he cannot remember the last time they had dinner together. When he goes to Pepe’s home, he expects the family to be more concerned with Pepe’s death. However, they just keep silence and hardly talk about it until Rafe says that he wants to leave, and Prudencio asks him if his son was the only one involved in the deadly war (425). Rafe tells him that there were others involved including himself though he survived it while others died. Prudencio insists that his wife and he would like to see Rafe again. He reminds Rafe that theirs is still the good old home he visited even before Pepe’s death, and he is always welcome. He says he is consoled by the fact that Pepe did not suffer, because Rafe was there for him. Rafe promises to visit the family often. He is lucky to have survived that war and come back home safely. Rafe honors the promise; he continues visiting the family until he leaves for campus some years later.