His eyes were judging me. It was as if I was the last of a long line of grown-ups who would fail him. - Michael Nava

"Come on, then," Gustavo said. "Let's get the circus started."

It was one of those winter days in Los Angeles when the wind has swept away the smog and the air is clear and the light still and everything has the immediacy of a dream. I parked on a street called Overland in the Hollywood Hills. It was lined with white-skinned birch trees. Their nude branches shimmered against the sky. Tattered yellow leaves clogged the gutters and the air was scented with the rainy smell of eucalyptus. There were no cars on the street and the houses were barely visible behind walls and fences and sweeping lawns that had never been trod upon except by gardeners.

[Henry Rios] "We never know anyone as well as we think we do."