“The end was coming, but I didn’t see it coming.”

This is the very first sentence of the novel, and it foreshadows the journey that is to follow. Victor is referring to multiple endings: the end of his time in the village, Los Árboles; the end of his childhood friendship with Rico; and, in many ways, the end of his innocence, as he will soon have to make decisions and face dangers that he never thought he would have to face.

“Rico wanted me to be excited for him. How could I pretend I was? It was all too much: this fortune in bills to be handed over to the smugglers, and even more so, the danger Rico thought was so appealing.” 

The smugglers Victor refers to are the coyotes, who guide immigrants across the U.S. border. This passage hints at a tension between the cautious Victor and adventure-seeking Rico that will come to a head later in the novel, when Rico lies to Victor and signs them up to cross the border carrying food for drug smugglers. Victor sees Rico’s stack of bills and can only think of how it would feed his family for months, while Rico sees only the possibility of adventure in the U.S. By the end of the novel, both have changed: Victor has taken risks he never thought he was cable of, and Rico has realized the importance of family.