I was eight when my father brought me to one of the big houses at the top of Esperanza Street and left me with Mary Morelos. 'I haven't the time to fix broken wings,' she said. 'Does he have any trouble with discipline?' My father glanced at me before answering. So begins the story of Joseph, houseboy to the once-wealthy Mary Morelos, who lives in the three-storey Spanish colonial house at the top of Esperanza Street.