The Distance Between Us

Reyna recounts the events that led to her mother’s return to Mexico. Their father, having found a new woman, asks her to leave the house but to leave Betty with him. Eventually, Reyna’s mother kidnaps the baby, but her father, drunk and armed, finds her; when a bystander intervenes, he fires the weapon and shoots him. He accepts voluntary deportation rather than imprisonment but easily crosses the border again and returns to America within a week.

Reyna’s mother gets a new job at a record shop in town; Chinta sends Carlos to walk her home, but their mother returns before he does. She hasn’t seen Carlos, and the family worries until he returns, quiet and upset.

Eventually, Carlos reports that he saw their mother that evening with a new boyfriend. Their mother confesses that she does have a boyfriend—a wrestler—and someday is going with him to Acapulco. One afternoon, upon returning from school, Reyna and her siblings see that their mother has left without saying goodbye and has left Betty behind for them to take care of.

Reyna’s mother’s departure is devastating. Carlos becomes ill and loses “so much weight he really did look like a skeleton” (94). While Grande would later learn that Carlos suffered from hepatitis, Chinta blames his illness on sadness. Reyna, miserable as well, feels as if a scorpion “was stinging my heart again and again” (95). Mago reacts violently, poisoning the puppies owned by their uncle Crece, who also lives in Chinta’s house. Because Carlos has missed weeks of school, he decides to drop out and work with Uncle Crece, but Reyna “didn’t want him hanging out with our crazy uncle. I didn’t want him learning to become a man from Tío Crece” (97). Reyna relents, knowing that Carlos certainly can’t learn to be a man from his own father.

Reyna then provides a snapshot of Tío Crece, explaining that he suffered from schizophrenia but was thought to be cursed by witchcraft. At one point, drunk, he offers Reyna money in exchange for a kiss. Mago intervenes and warns him away. While Reyna wants to avoid him as much as she can, the fact that they all live in a house with no interior walls makes this nearly impossible. In fact, Reyna sometimes witnesses her uncle openly masturbating in his hammock. Despite Reyna’s misgivings, Carlos and Tío Crece get along very well, and Carlos begins to look up to him as a role model. When Mago reminds Carlos that Tío Crece is not his father, Carlos ignores her, telling Mago that she is not his mother. This exchange provides an opportunity for Reyna to reflect: “My mother’s second abandonment had forced [Carlos] to grow up. And that meant he no longer needed a little mother […] He needed a father, and the closest thing to that was Tío Crece” (100).

After a night of drinking, Tío Crece gets into a fight with his brother Mario. Tío Crece, using a machete, attacks Mario, who has a knife. Carlos gets in the middle, defending Tío Crece by putting himself between the two men. After this incident, Chinta no longer allows Carlos to spend time with Crece, and so he returns to school with Mago.

With the school year over and the rainy season having begun, Reyna and her siblings find themselves stuck inside the house and share memories and dreams. Mago recounts a story about the Day of the Three Wise Men, a Christmas ritual celebrated in early January; their parents hid presents in the bushes outside and encouraged them to see what the Three Wise Men had brought for them. Betty asks what they brought for her; Mago tells her that she wasn’t born yet, but that next year The Three Wise Men will bring her an American-made Barbie doll. Carlos says that he has imagined their father returning with a van full of presents; Mago assures them that he will return. They all fall silent, and Reyna reports that “our father was the only hope we had, however small that hope was” (105). Additionally, Reyna asks Chinta to share a memory; she tells the story of her mother, at 12 years old, determined to tame a donkey and start a water delivery business. Seeing the neighborhood donkey one day, she mounts it and rides it for 30 seconds before falling and breaking her arm. Chinta adds, “Your mother thinks she has failed again […] And she thinks everyone else thinks so, too” (107).

The summer rains worsen, causing Chinta’s house to flood; the neighbors are even worse off, with the high waters forcing people to live on their rooftops. Grande reports: “People navigated through the streets in makeshift canoes, and the corpses of their chickens, pigs, dogs, and cats floated in the water” (108). Eventually Reyna learns that her five-year-old cousin Catalina is missing; not wanting to think about her fate, Reyna asks Mago to tell her a story. Mago tells the story of the three little pigs, and Reyna falls asleep “with a prayer on my lips for Papi to finish his dream house one day. Then he could finally come back, take us there, and keep us safe” (110).

The following day, Reyna learns that Catalina has drowned and witnesses as Catalina’s mother and Chinta “hung Catalina by her feet so that the river could drain out of her […] I was gripped with a fear so great, it made my stomach churn” (111). She wonders what might happen if her father never returns, leaving her there with her siblings to “face the wolf all on our own” (111).

The new school year begins, and Mago is proud that she will be a school flag-bearer; however, there is no money for her uniform. Mago loves school, and Grande recalls Mago talking about her dreams of becoming a secretary. Reyna goes along with the fantasy: “I imagined her a boss, a handsome lawyer, telling her she was the best secretary he’d ever had. Then they would fall in love” (113). Mago replies that her dream is unlikely to come true, as there is no money for technical school, not even enough money for her flag-bearer uniform. Chinta promises that they will find the money, although she has very little income as a traditional healer and often trades her services for food or other household items. Despondent, Mago suggests that even though she loves school, she may have to drop out and get a job. Carlos insists that he can steal mangoes for Mago to sell at the train station to get money for her uniform. Reyna and her siblings try to steal mangoes from her neighbor’s grove, but the attempt fails, as the owner discovers them and fires a shotgun.

Upon returning home, Reyna sees that Chinta has accidentally spilled boiling water on Betty; she gasps “at seeing [her] red face. Her skin looked as if it were melting” (115). Mago borrows money from a neighbor so that Betty can see a doctor; after she receives treatment and medicine, Mago insists that they will need more money and reports that she will start working part-time, after school. The following day, Carlos tells Mago that Tía Emperatriz has agreed to make her uniform. At first, Reyna is relieved that Mago won’t have to work, “but then I looked at Betty, who looked like a mummy with her face all bandaged up, and I remembered there was another reason Mago had looked for a job” (117).

When Carlos and Reyna visit Mago at work, they see that she has entered a train car to sell quesadillas, but when the train begins to move, Mago is still onboard. Reyna breaks into tears and runs toward the train, wondering if Mago has finally decided to abandon her; she is relieved to see Mago jump off the final car and to hear her say that she would never leave her.