La Linea

The migrants stop around noon in a rocky shelter. Moisés searches for snakes before he spreads the tarps. Moisés is pleased with their progress, and he jokes about the “nice hotel” he has found them. The others follow along, teasing about swimming in the pool and eating steak. The desert is quiet, though Miguel briefly thinks he hears a faraway engine. He imagines Abuelita would warn him about their location. Moisés hears a sound and reconnoiters. Javi thinks it may be nothing—the desert plays tricks on the senses. They hear a gunshot. A jeep flying an American flag approaches. Two armed men dressed in camouflage ride in front, and Moisés lays in back. He is shot in the shoulder. As the jeep drives by their hiding place, Moisés pushes his backpack onto the ground. They wait for the jeep to leave, then they retrieve the backpack. The bullet that shot Moisés pierced the pack, draining the rest of Elena’s water supply.

Miguel, Elena, and Javi follow Moisés’s route toward the distant mountain, behind which is a highway that will take Miguel and Elena west and Javi east to New York. They have money they found in Moisés’s backpack, but Miguel knows they only have enough water for two people. Javi tells them not to worry about him, he will keep up. Elena refuses to leave anyone behind, but Javi insists they can always surrender to la migra and then try again. They cross ravines. They are scratched by thorn bushes, soaked by a thunderstorm, and poked by cactus needles. Miguel tries hard to find a direct route but cannot tell how far they have left to walk. Javi struggles behind them. Miguel worries that Javi’s fatigue is caused by something besides his injured ankle. Miguel rations the water despite their thirst and Moisés’s warning. In slurred speech, Javi tells Elena that Miguel is now their leader and to follow his instructions. Javi promises they will make it.

Javi grows more confused. Miguel decides they will surrender when their water is gone, otherwise they will die. They find objects along the path left by other migrants. Miguel vows not to leave anyone or anything behind in the desert and promises not to give up. They discover the body of a woman, holding the body of a child in her arms. Javi mistakes the bodies for those of his children and prays over them. Miguel wonders who the woman was and who waits for her somewhere. The hot wind becomes a sandstorm. The three wrap themselves in their tarps to wait it out rather than risking getting lost. They finish their water. Elena, lying next to Miguel, is afraid. She ramblingly tells Miguel not to be angry at Papá because she is not mad at Mamá. She wants assurance that California will be everything they imagined and thanks Miguel for not abandoning her. Miguel hears voices in the wind of those who died in the desert and hears La Llorona calling to him. He resists their calls.

Miguel dreams of being at his swimming hole with Lalo and Chuy. One of Chuy’s fantastical carvings springs to life and flies away with Miguel on its back. The creature flies south over Guatemala instead of north, then plunges into the sand. Terrified, Miguel wakes up, realizing he and Elena are partially buried in sand. They push out of their tarps and discover that Javi is gone. He left behind his backpack and his partially full water bottle, which reveals that Javi had stopped drinking. There may be enough water for Miguel and Elena to make it. Miguel offers to look for Javi, but Elena, her voice slurred, says “He wanted to go” (118). Miguel speculates that Javi gave them a chance to survive. Miguel and Elena continue walking, scanning for Javi. Elena’s strength fades, and she grows weak and confused. They fall to the ground at the top of the last hill, but then they see the busy highway Moisés promised.

Ten years later, it is the anniversary of the day they left San Jacinto to go north, the day Miguel promised to reunite with his friends, and the ninth anniversary of Abuelita’s death. In the interim, Miguel graduated college with an English degree and lives in a small apartment in what appears to be San Francisco. Elena did not like the north despite the presence of her family and returned to San Jacinto after high school where she took over Abuelita’s rancho and grew it into a successful farm. Elena married Chuy and they have a baby boy named Miguel Javier Moisés.

Miguel phones Elena. They discuss photographs each sent to the other. Elena thinks Papá looks old. Miguel knows he is responsible because for a long time he did not forgive Papá, though he now knows Papá acted out of love. Miguel also loves but is jealous of his twin sisters, who are US citizens and never experienced Miguel’s feelings of parental abandonment. Both Miguel and Elena remember Javi. Elena wishes to believe Javi made it to New York; Miguel does not think Javi succeeded.

Elena asks why Miguel did not send her Abuelita’s Virgen medallion, which they planned to bury with Abuelita. Miguel declares he will keep it until he can return legally. Elena hopes he will visit her someday. Miguel later reflects that while he looks much the same, inside he is still discovering himself and considering the many different lines people must navigate during their lives. He will call and tell Papá the next lines he plans to cross.