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.He is a year older than she is, and he has a car and drives her home.She is supposed to take the bus and not accept rides from anybody, certainly not boys, but Ileana is Ileana.If you tell her to do something, she will try to do the opposite.My mother wanted her to promise she would not talk to the boy anymore, but Ileana refused.She told Mami that she is lucky the boy is her friend.He is very popular in school and plays football, that game with the pointy ball.She also said that they have done nothing but talk.He is very respectful and patient with her English.But Mami said that talk always leads to something else, and she wasn’t going to have any daughter of hers tramping about without a chaperone.This got Ileana very mad and she shouted that we are living in the United States of America, not Cuba.So Mami screamed that Papi better never hear her say that.Then suddenly Mami looked around and spotted Ana Mari and me listening with our mouths open.She ordered us outside, and we missed the rest of the fight.Later I asked Ileana what she was going to do.Her eyes were red from crying.She shrugged her shoulders.When I asked her the boy’s name, she snapped at me and said it was none of my business.Then she cried some more.I feel sorry for Ileana.I think she just wants to have friends.She wants to be like everyone else in her school.I know the feeling.I don’t think Mami or Papi understand what it is like to be new to a school, with funny clothes and a funny accent.They are not trying to be cruel to us.They may even think they are doing what is right.But it’s hard to live like Papi wants us to live, suspended in the middle between two countries.We have to be either here or there.We have to make up our minds.We must choose.Thursday, 26th of OctoberPedro, the Cuban boy in my homeroom, is leaving for Los Angeles on Saturday.His father is a chemical engineer, whatever that is, and he got a job there.We looked on the globe in the classroom and were surprised it was almost halfway around the world.As soon as he saw this, poor Pedro turned white.“I didn’t know the United States was so big,” he groaned.“But look how close you are to Mexico!” I tried to console him.He wouldn’t answer, just hung his head.He wants to go back to Cuba.Friday, 27th of OctoberAbuelo Tony turned seventy-four today.We had chocolate cake from a bakery and Coca-Cola.He was very tired, though, and he did not even bother to blow out his candles.I asked him what was wrong, and he put both his hands on his chest.“A man’s heart can break in so many ways,” he said.I gave him a big, big hug, and I think that made him feel better.Tuesday, 31st of OctoberThis is a day for the children to wear costumes and go house to house asking for candy.I dressed up as a Gypsy with Abuela María’s clothes and a dozen plastic bracelets Tía Carmen bought at a small shop next to the Laundromat where she works.Mami drew a beauty mark on the left side of my mouth and colored blue circles around my eyes.Ana Mari went as a cat, with painted-on whiskers and nose.Her tail was a long black balloon.Abuelo Tony took photographs with his new camera.We collected so much candy that we cannot possibly eat it all without bursting.Efraín’s boss sent us new toothbrushes.He told Efraín we would need them!Just as we had planned at school, Jane and her mother stopped by during trick-or-treating, and Mami and Papi finally met my friend.Our mothers couldn’t talk much to each other, but Mami invited Mrs.Henderson in.She made Cuban coffee, which Mrs.Henderson had never tasted.I’m not sure she liked it, but she was gracious enough to drink it.“This is very, very strong,” she said, and smiled.Later Mami said that my friend—she called her la americana—and her mother seemed decent folk.Mrs.Henderson told her they attend Saint Michael’s Church, so I think that made a good impression on Mami.Papi did not express an opinion either way, but at least he was polite and friendly and did not object to anything.Friday, 3rd of NovemberI realized something today.I have not thought of my friends in Cuba in several days.I feel bad about that.Would a good friend forget so easily? I am curious about what happened with Ofelia and the Communist Youth.Is she enjoying it or are her parents forcing her to participate? Must she march in many rallies? Does she play with any of our other friends?Papi always makes it a point to tell us a story about Cuba at dinner.Sometimes it’s an event from history or a description of a historic site, but other times it is a story about the neighborhood or one of the businesses that we used to frequent.Tonight he told us about the José Martí House, in the southern section of Old Havana, and described the photographs and documents and furniture exhibited there.He could even remember the colors of the house—blue and yellow! He says we should never forget where we come from, so that when we return, it will be like slipping into old slippers found in the back of our closet.Memory, though, is like a piece of color cotton.Over time it fades.I eat lunch with Jane every day.I have started packing my own food because I cannot get used to what is served in the cafeteria.Jane loves the croquettes Mami makes, but she does not care for the El Refugio meat.She says it tastes just like Spam.I like it very much.Now that my English is better, we also talk on the phone every afternoon.If Efraín is not around, she helps me with English and social studies homework.I help her in mathematics.I have come to the conclusion that numbers are the universal language.They count for the same amount no matter what country you are in.Yet you should see how los americanos do their division.They figure it out backward! They also do their subtraction very strangely.For example, they borrow by taking away from the top number.I learned by adding to the bottom number.Either way, you arrive at the same answer, but if I try to do my calculations the English way, I feel like I’m turning my brain inside out.Mrs.Boatwright told me not to worry.She said several of her students do their arithmetic the way I do.Tuesday, 7th of NovemberJane gave me several books in a series about a girl detective named Nancy Drew.She read them three years ago, when she was in the fifth grade.These are much easier to read than the Doc Savage ones.Still, I read slowly to make sure I can understand completely what I’m reading.Sometimes I think Ana Mari will zoom ahead of me.That would be so-o-o embarrassing.Friday, 10th of NovemberFor homework I have to write a three-hundred-word essay about exploration in space because yesterday a Surveyor spacecraft landed on the moon [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]