William is horrified to see his uncle's house. When he was a child, he and Melissa used to be taken by their parents to visit relatives in the Capital. They knew that the neighborhood was poor and that the Teixeira family house was also poor.

However, now in 1986, William realizes that the house has never progressed or been renovated. Everything has deteriorated: the walls are moldy, the paint is peeling, the floor is grimy, the columns are bulging and corroded by the sea air, the weeds in the backyard are untamed, and the accumulated garbage attracts rats and centipedes.

A pile of newspapers beside Adolfo's torn armchair indicates that...