Prospero
Like all writers, Prospero is indefatigable in his efforts to find new sources of income. One principal method he recently employed to exploit the family: the revival of obsolete medieval practices. In feudal Spain every landowner of a certain standing had been required to do a caballero’s service for the King in war, or to pay a fee if he could not. This practice, to the acute annoyance of Prospero’s family members, is now revived and all sons and nephews who reach their 13th year are required to receive – or, as his son Raul puts it, endure – knighthood, paying the necessary fee to exempt them from taking dictations or doing investigation services. Naturally Prospero collides with his sons Raul and Amadeo and with his nephews Mano, Ryan, Gabriel, Daniel, Esteban and Jack, and he also collides with the Police.
