Dog Lady and The Cuban Swimmer
by Milcha Sanchez-Scott

THE STORIES: In Dog Lady , the setting is a barrio street in Los Angeles, where a young Hispanic woman is in training for a marathon sponsored by a local church.

Egged on by a dogged suitor, she is unable to achieve her best until the local curandera, or faith healer, a loony old woman who lives amid a horde of dogs, endows her with magic powers—which enable her to run swiftly on all fours and easily out distance her fellow competitors.

(2 men, 5 women.) The Cuban Swimmer deals with another instance in which Hispanic-Americans use athletic skills to propel themselves into the mainstream of middle-class life.

Here the action involves a young woman endurance swimmer who races from San Pedro to Catalina Island while her family follows her in a leaky boat.

As they bicker and exhort her, she begins to weary and stray off course—until a spiritual and magical intervention reinvigorates her and she resolves to “dive into the Milky Way and wash my hands in the stars.”

(2 men, 3 women.)