The Two Deaths of Senora Puccini — Stephen Dobyns

In a war-torn Latin American capital, a group of old friends gather at the home of Dr. Daniel Pacheco for their semiannual reunion. Kept prisoners by an emergency curfew, they wander into revelations of brutality and deception. The evening's centerpiece is the host's gradual disclosure of his obsession with Senora Puccini, whom he met as a young socialite. Now his housekeeper and sexual slave, she quietly serves dinner as Pacheco details the limitless debasement he has forced on them both so that he can possess her physically, though she vows never to love him. The violence in the streets serves as counterpoint to the emotional violence of these refined, prominent men