When America launched the Pioneer space probe some decades ago a plaque was fastened to the skin of the space vehicle. For the benefit of any alien life that might be encountered is the depiction of the source of the machine in their midst.
Earth is positioned as the third satellite from the sun, a small star in the Milky Way. Also presented are frontal views of the earthly creatures responsible for the unexpected present from the sky. A cursory examination of the two living things will suggest that they are somewhat different in physical structure.
Whether the foreign beings will be able to attach any significance to the anatomical variations is unknown.
However even a neophyte student of biology knows that for all flora and fauna on this planet earth the major focus in their lives is to perpetuate their kind, both genus and species.
Human societies from antiquity that failed to recognize this either through ignorance or elaborate superstition have been relegated to minor foot notes in the journals kept by archaeologists of their digs.
So sex matters if any society is to be sustained.
Add to this overarching certainty the hormonal fluctuations that male and female members of the species experience throughout their lives and the behaviors that result and one arrives at a statement of power. The power of action prompted by the union of biological imperative and chemical driven desire.
Capistrano, the novel provides the backdrop for the exercising of just that kind of power. The people of means by virtue of their business acumen fuse with those who possess the same motives, the same opportunities and the same means to fulfill their dreams. The result is a garish panoply of the human condition in microcosm.
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