Mike’s recurring dizziness

Mike’s recurring dizziness turns an otherwise practical problem on the road into a test of his independence and of Rafo’s concern for him. The first spell makes Mike mistake his own failing sense of control for a malfunction in the truck; the next brings Rafo’s insistence on seeing a doctor. No examination explains the episodes, and the narrative distinguishes an uneasy return of symptoms from a later ride in which Mike feels steady but exhilarated.

Onset on the road

By nearly noon, Mike and Rafo are traveling over a miserable, rutted road. When the steering seems not to respond, Mike wrestles with the wheel and tries to keep the truck straight, but it slips and skids from side to side. He brakes and brings it to a dusty stop. The immediate danger is practical: the vehicle has become difficult to control while both are on board.

Only after stopping does Mike understand that the steering has not gone wrong. His head has. He lays his forearms across the wheel and rests his head on them. Rafo asks whether he is sick, and Mike describes the spell as slight dizziness, then denies that he is about to faint. He raises his head slowly and says he is all right, with some irritation. The irritation sits beside a more careful response: Mike tests his eyesight against the road, checking whether he can see far enough ahead and whether the view remains steady. He feels better, but does not simply resume driving without assessing himself.

Rafo watches him closely and offers to drive. His proposal makes the episode a negotiation about responsibility as well as a symptom: Mike is the driver, yet Rafo recognizes that the man may not be safe behind the wheel. Rafo says he can drive, drawing on having driven his mother’s car around the city, though he has no license. The exchange does not establish that he takes over at that point. It does show that Mike’s dizziness has altered the usual balance between adult driver and dependent passenger, giving Rafo reason to judge the danger and propose an alternative.

Medical attention in San Luis Potosí

Later that afternoon, they stop in San Luis Potosí partly to find a doctor, at Rafo’s insistence. Rafo frames the issue in terms of their shared exposure to risk: if Mike becomes dizzy while driving, the truck could go over a precipice with Rafo inside. He gives Mike a choice between letting him drive and seeking medical attention. His concern is therefore not presented as uncomplicated tenderness; Rafo says he is thinking about his own safety. Even so, he is the one who presses for a medical examination rather than allowing the problem to pass unaddressed.

They get lost trying to find the doctor, and arrive at nightfall to find him already on his way out. The doctor initially has no time for another patient. Rafo’s display of distress persuades him to stay, and he conducts a lengthy examination, using a light to inspect Mike’s eyes, ears, and throat, then asking many questions and examining him further. Some questions are in English and some in Spanish, which Rafo translates. One question about pushing barrels makes no sense to either Mike or Rafo until the doctor demonstrates what he means. The scene emphasizes how little the examination initially communicates to the travelers, even as the doctor gives it considerable time.

Mike eventually has had enough of the examination. He pays the fifty pesos the doctor requests, gives little attention to the assurance that he is in excellent health, and leaves. The visit produces a reassuring assessment but no explanation for what happened on the road. Mike’s response is not evidence that the symptoms have been medically resolved: he departs without accepting the doctor’s conclusion as a settled answer.

Recurrence and uncertainty

After they leave the office, Rafo complains of hunger, and Mike takes him to a restaurant. Rafo eats an enchilada and a large variety of beans; Mike eats sparingly. After dinner, Mike feels full and thinks that perhaps the dizziness has returned because of a sluggish liver or because he is out of shape. He connects this possibility to months without a hard workout in a stadium. These are Mike’s speculations, not a diagnosis established by the doctor or by the narrative. The episode returns after the examination, keeping the question open even after the assurance of good health.

The symptom also touches Mike’s broader doubts about himself. After Rafo challenges his manliness, Mike recognizes that his first interpretation of the boy’s provocation may have been mistaken. His thoughts turn toward perceived failures in work, age, and courage, and the possibility that he may no longer feel able to meet challenges. The passage links that self-doubt to the vulnerability already made concrete by the dizziness, without establishing that anxiety causes the spells. The distinction matters: the physical episodes remain unexplained, while Mike’s reflection reveals how readily he reads physical uncertainty alongside other losses of confidence.

A later contrast

During a later ride, Rafo warns Mike that he will become dizzy. Mike nevertheless insists on going by himself. When Rafo returns to the truck, Mike notices a quickening in himself that he had not expected to feel again. He explicitly registers that he is not dizzy or unsteady at that moment; what he feels is excitement. This scene does not show that the recurring problem has vanished. It offers a narrower contrast: the dizziness that previously made Mike question whether he could safely drive is absent during this particular surge of eagerness.

Across these episodes, the dizziness repeatedly interrupts forward motion, but it does not receive a definitive cause or cure. The first spell changes the road from routine travel into an immediate safety problem; the stop in San Luis Potosí gives Rafo a chance to insist on help, yet the examination ends without settling the matter. Later, Mike’s steadiness amid excitement prevents the symptom from defining every experience of motion. The uncertainty remains part of the journey, as does the new fact that Rafo is alert to Mike’s limits and willing to act when he thinks their safety depends on it.