In these vignettes set in the fictional county of Belken along the Texas-Mexico border in the early to mid-twentieth century, Rolando Hinojosa sketches a landscape of Mexican Texans and Anglo Texans living side by side, in good times and bad. "The world's a drugstore: you'll find a little bit of just about everything, and it's usually on sale, too. Belken County, Texas is part of the world, and so, it's no different; it's people are packaged in cellophane and they, too, come in all sizes, shapes and in a choice of colors." Some are brave; others are craven. Some are sharp, and some are dull. Death calls on a regular basis in this first installment of Hinojosa's acclaimed Klail City Death Trip Series. Jehu Malacara was seven when his mother died and nine when his father passed.
