Chapter 5 Even though everyone thinks that all the problems started when Minerva slapped Trujillo at the dance party, the problem actually starts far before. The entire problem starts when the sisters first meet Lio Morales. Dede meets Lio when she is working at her father’s shop with Minerva. They are planning to go to Tio Pepe’s to play volleyball. Mario comes to the shop and introduces Lio Morales to them. A strong bond is created between Lio and Minerva. A few days later, they were playing volleyball. Jaimito becomes extremely mad when he finds out from Dede accidentally that Lio is hiding with Minerva behind the hedges. The game ends awkwardly. Minerva’s parents forbid Minerva to meet Lio when Maria Teresa accidentally reads out an article claiming that the people including Lio Morales are “communists.” However, they continue to meet. One day, Jaimito, Minerva, and Dede gather at the sisters’ house. Dede asks Minerva whether she is going to go along with Lio who is exile. Minerva goes out to find Lio, and Jaimito, and Dede begins to have their own romantic time. They go to her father’s car and kiss. Jaimito finally proposes to Dede and hears a voice from the backseat. They find out that the voice comes from Lio who was hiding in the backseat. Lio asks Dede to deliver his letter to Minerva. Minerva comes back home saying she could not find Lio anywhere. When Dede arrives at home, she reads the letter and decides not to deliver the letter just to protect Minerva.
Chapter 6
Minerva Mirabal, Summer When she is out for a drive, she notices that her father’s car is always parked in front of the same house and soon realizes that she has four half-sisters who have “Mirabal eyes.” She is sick because Lio is not with her. One day, she goes to her father’s room and finds several letters in his pocket. There were the letters from Lio to Minerva. She noticed that he has been taking away the letters from her just to separate them. She goes to the house where she saw his car and asks several questions. At night when he comes back, he calls her to the garden and slaps her. Not only the letters from Lio, he finds the letter from Trujillo, inviting her to his private party. Her mother worrying about her safety insists that the other sisters have to go along with Minerva, whom Trujillo specifically requires to come. When Minerva is driving to get her father to a doctor’s appointment, she meets Carmen, her father’s other wife, and her half-sisters. Discovery Day Dance, October 12 The Mirabals arrive at the party and sit in the reserved seat. They are an hour late, but hopefully, Trujillo is late, too. Minerva has to sit next to Trujillo. First, she is entertained by Manuel de Moya, the secretary. He asks her to dance with him, but Minerva refuses, saying that she has a headache. However, she eventually dances with him. After the dance, Trujillo is her partner. Trujillo says he wants to “conquer” her, and she replies that she is not for conquest. She says that she wants to go to the college to become a lawyer. He opposes by saying that colleges are not for women. He defines college as where the “communists and agitators” go. Accidentally, Minerva mentions Lio but pretends she doesn’t know him. He comes closer and closer toward Minerva, and she slaps him. The Mirabals immediately ran out, and she realizes that she has left her purse and that she has Lio’s letter inside it. Rainy Spell The Mirabals leave the party before Trujillo leaves, which is unlawful in the Dominican Republic under Trujillo. Some governors came to their house trying to take Enrique Mirabal and Minerva for questioning. Her father is captured and tells Minerva to go to Carmen with some money. She cannot not find the house in the rain but meets Magarita, the daughter of Carmen. Later, Minerva and her mother go to the capital to ask for her father's release. Minerva is questioned. The governors ask Minerva whether she lied to Trujillo that she does not know Lio. She