Beatriz came for a rock comparison summit.
This had been scheduled since September with the seriousness of a diplomatic engagement and arrived on a Saturday in November with equal ceremony: Beatriz at the door with a canvas bag that clinked in the way of serious mineral collections, a mother who was warmly normal and clearly prepared for whatever form the summit might take, and Daniel receiving them in the hallway with the formal gravity of a host.
Camila made the requisite coffee for the accompanying adult. They sat at the kitchen table while the children set up operations in Daniel's room, which had been organised for the occasion in a way that suggested prior planning. Occasional sounds emerged — discussion, the careful sound of rocks being placed on hard surfaces, something that migh
