In the early 1980's through a happy accident of fate I found myself in the Dominican Republic, a place I never would have intentionally chosen to visit, but one in which I found great personal satisfaction.
The country was a study of opposites. My luxurious tourist accommodations were surrounded by stark poverty, exuberant teeming crowds, strange alien street scenes. Outside the hotel I was confronted with numerous "guides" who wanted to show me around the city. Not wanting to spend a week in my hotel room I decided to trust that the gods would protect me, and I placed my fate in the hands of a kid about twelve years old. His name was Abraham and he became the model for the younger boy, Timoteo, who shows Emma Passant, THE GIRL WHO REMEMBERED SNOW, around the fictional island of San Marcos.
All through my real
life adventure, which paralleled Emma's to some degree, Abraham wanted me to
give him my tennis shoes. He was a growing kid and the shoes would have
been far too small. Faced with the same scene that I faced in the parking
lot of the hotel, Emma makes the choice I wanted to make. He took my money
but he claimed he only did so because he had to. He would have worked for
me for free, he said.
When returned to New York I sent Abraham a pair of tennis shoes that would have been more his size. They came back several months later, address unknown. I never saw him again. I was happy to spend time with him when he became part of the dream that was this book, and I take great satisfaction that my readers can meet him, too.
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