The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Chapter 7 Summary

How It All Goes Down

Oscar flies down to Santo Domingo. You knew this was coming.
Clives picks Oscar up at the airport: "Cristiano, Clives said, what are you doing here?" (3.7.1.2)
The two wait for almost seven hours outside Ybón's house.
When she does finally show up, she tells Oscar that he's got to leave.
She mists up a little and tells Oscar that she's calling the capitán.
He goes away and lets himself into La Inca's house.
Once inside, he hears the capitán honk his horn for a long time, but Oscar doesn't go outside.
When La Inca comes home from the bakery, she thinks that Oscar has got some 'splainig to do.

For twenty-seven days, Oscar writes fiction and chases after Ybón.
It's pure terror for Ybón. If the capitán sees Oscar and her together... he'll kill them both.
So she tries to ignore him. By day ten, she's hissing at him to leave.
Later, she tells Oscar the following: she was miserable when she saw Oscar, and miserable when she didn't. There's no good ending to this story, is there?
The captain and his friends keep threatening to kill Oscar.
And Oscar keeps calling the embassy to tell them about the threats. The embassy doesn't do anything. No surprise there.
Ybón starts scribbling notes to Oscar telling him to go home.
On night nineteen, Ybón picks Oscar up, and they go out to La Romana—a place where the capitán supposedly doesn't have any friends.
Meanwhile, Lola flies down to try to convince Oscar to leave. No luck.
Oscar's mom and even Yunior fly down to try to convince Oscar to leave the DR as well. No luck. He's set on staying in the DR, with his beloved.

One night, Oscar sees the capitán. He runs away.
Finally, it happens: Clives and Oscar are on their way home. At a stoplight, Grod and Grundy hop in Clives's cab. They all drive to the canefields.
On the way, they pass a bus stop. Oscar imagines that his whole family is getting on a bus. The Mongoose is driving, and the Man Without a Face is collecting the fares. Spooky.
Oscar sends telepathic messages to his uncle, his mom, Lola, Ybón, and all the women he ever loved. He wants them to know he loved them, as he knows he is about to die.
Grod and Grundy march Oscar out into the canefield.
Oscar starts to speak, in good Spanish for a change.
He tells Grod and Grundy that they're doing a terrible thing, because love is so rare in this world, and they're blotting it out.
They probably won't feel anything for a long time, he tells them. But when they're old and weak and when a car hits them, they'll see Oscar waiting for them on the other side.
The henchmen politely wait for Oscar to finish. Kind of like allowing a man to say his last words. Then they ask Oscar how to say fuego in English.
Oscar can't help himself. He says it: fire.
This is the end for him. Pow.