Women weep, holding their babies; men are quiet, while the old and weak are praying for mercy. The narrator is not yet aware that her world is about to turn into a nightmare.

Petra removes her shawl to climb a mesquite tree. Her six-year-old sister, Amelia, asks what happened to the pants she used to have. Petra tells her that Abuelita took them away. Amelia tells Petra that Mamá would have let her wear them.

After gathering the wood, Amelia and Petra load it onto the donkey, who Amelia has named Panchito. Amelia asks Petra to promise not to tell Abuelita that she has named the donkey.

Petra thinks back to six months ago when she promised Papá that she would take care of the family just before he was dragged off by the Federales to fight the revolutionaries opposing President Díaz’s reelection. Petra assures Amelia she will not tell Abuelita about the donkey.

Amelia and Petra deliver firewood to patrons around the village. When they pass by a group of women wearing fancy dresses, one of them wrinkles her nose as if she smells something bad.