Ana and Roberto Baum are a Jewish couple who fled Europe due to the war. Roberto is a doctor who had developed the belief that every man had the right to a peaceful death, while suffering as a doctor that he could not help many that were shackled to life by machines. When his wife develops cancer, he is torn between his love for his wife and his desire to not let her suffer. Part of the collection "The Stories of Eva Luna", first published in Spanish in 1989 and in English in 1991.