payment page
Cleófilas’s husband woos her in Mexico and takes her away from her family, across the U.S.–Mexico border, to live in the town of Seguin, Texas. At first, Cleófilas believes that Juan Pedro is “the great love of [her] life” and “the man [she has] waited her whole life for.” She tells herself that he will give her the passion she sees in books, songs, and telenovelas. Cleófilas believes that he will provide a better life for her in Texas. He drives a new truck and claims to have “a very important position” at his workplace. Their house, though not new, will be nothing that new paint and new furniture won’t fix.
Instead, Cleófilas and Juan Pedro live in poverty. He does not own his truck but instead must make payments on it that they cannot afford. The doorways inside the house that they rent have curtains that Cleófilas sews instead of doors. Juan Pedro repeatedly beats her then cries “tears of repentance and shame” afterwards. He drinks too much and stays out all night, presumably with other women. He “farts and belches and snores.” Once married, he no longer cares for “romance or roses.” He keeps her at home, isolated by her inability to speak English and her lack of transportation.
Juan Pedro bears a complicated name. Juan and Pedro are Spanish versions of the names John and Peter, two of Jesus’s most beloved disciples. However, Juan Pedro behaves in a less-than-saintly manner. Instead, he more closely embodies the name Martinez, which derives from Mars, the Roman god of war.
