Isabel

Isabel’s father Geraldo and grandfather Lito argue about whether Geraldo should leave the family and try to escape to America. Lito points out that Isabel’s mother, Teresa, is very pregnant. On the television, a newscast interrupts the baseball game, with an announcement from Fidel Castro that the Cuban navy will no longer try to stop people from leaving Cuba to go to America. Isabel knows that if the American Coast Guard does not catch refugees from Cuba on the ocean, then they are given refugee status and allowed to stay once they reach land. Isabel suggests that the entire family should escape to America together, since there will not be enough food for the new baby anyway. 

When Isabel asks Iván’s father if her family can join Iván’s family on their boat, the father replies that there is too little room, and no gasoline. Isabel trades her trumpet to a nearby fisherman for two jugs of gasoline, hoping that they will buy passage for her family with Iván’s. She gives the kitten that she had been feeding to the fisherman, as well, hoping that he can feed it.