The Distance Between Us

To shorten her commute, Reyna’s mother moves in with Tía Güera. Reyna and her siblings protest to no avail: “We begged her to stay with us. We promised we would be good, but Mami shook her head and said it was for the best” (130). Reyna is particularly distressed; by now she has basically forgotten her father. With Mago’s sixth-grade graduation nearing, Don Oscar, Reyna’s mother’s boss, agrees to be her godfather for the celebration. At the graduation party, Reyna is pleased to see that Mago is freed from her duties as a caregiver for her younger siblings: “That was the first time in a long time that Mago didn’t have to be anyone’s mother” (133). Reyna plays with Don Oscar’s children, too, but with their formal education and proper Spanish, they laugh at the way Reyna and her siblings talk. At this point Grande’s narrative flashes forward 13 years; as a college student, Reyna returns from America to her hometown to discover that her cousin is working as a maid for Don Oscar’s family. She writes of this experience: “I knew then, as I do now, that could also have been my fate” (133).

With Christmas approaching, Reyna and her siblings are excited because they will celebrate with their mother. During the festivities, they participate in various activities as their anticipation increases. Even Tío Crece, typically unstable, behaves himself as he accompanies the children to collect presents from neighbors. Reyna and her siblings decorate a modest tree with painted eggshells and clean the house: “We wanted this Christmas to be special […] we hoped that if we made the house look beautiful, maybe Mami would finally decide to come back to live with us” (137). Finally, Reyna’s mother arrives with a rotisserie chicken, but Reyna notices that she has brought a date as well, a much younger man named Rey. Reyna sums up her disappointment: “Suddenly, the chicken didn’t smell as good. Our Christmas tree was a branch, and it looked pathetic with all those eggshells” (138).

Mago begins to cry and goes into a panic, and Tío Crece tries to restrain her as she claims that she wants to die, kicks and screams, and eventually kicks her mother in the face. Reyna’s mother insists that she should be able to invite whomever she wants and eventually leaves with Rey, her face swelling from the kick and her hair and make-up a mess. When they release Mago, she runs to the door and slams it shut. The next day, Mago writes a letter to their father, begging him to come back.

Five months pass, and Reyna nears her 10th birthday. She and her siblings learn that their father is going to call them, so they rush to Evila’s house without washing or dressing themselves. Once they arrive, they see that their father is there. Reyna notes that he has gotten heavier and now wears glasses: “There he was, the Man Behind the Glass, in the flesh” (143). The children approach him cautiously, uncomfortable due to the awkwardness of the moment and their dirty hair and clothes. He introduces them to Mila, his new wife, and Reyna curses herself for admiring the woman’s light skin and youthful appearance.

The next morning Reyna’s father inspects his dream house, which by now is nearly finished, but he doesn’t answer when Mago asks which room is to be his. Eventually, he announces that he and Mila are returning to America. He can only afford to take one of the children with him and decides to take Mago, who, as the oldest, will best be able to withstand the ordeal of crossing the border illegally. Reyna protests silently: “I had survived being left by my father. I had lived through my mother’s constant comings and goings. But if Mago left me, I didn’t think I could survive” (147-48). To make matters worse, her father decides that Carlos, too, will be crossing with him. Both Mago and Carlos, however, say that they will not go with him unless Reyna can join them. Their father agrees to take them all. 

The next day, Reyna and Mago deliver the news to their mother, who refuses to allow Betty to go with them. Grande later realizes that her mother was simply being spiteful: “If she had allowed my father to have Betty, it would mean that he had won” (152). Saying goodbye, Reyna hesitates, thinking she ought to stay with her mother. Instead, she opts to remember her mother favorably and forget the mother who repeatedly abandoned her.

Even with the aid of a smuggler, the first attempt to cross the border fails, as Reyna is unable to keep up due to fever and pain; border agents send her, her father, Mago, and Carlos back to Tijuana. The second try yields the same result. This time, Reyna has come across a rotting corpse in the desert and panics. The third attempt, their father tells Reyna and her siblings, will be the last. If it fails, they will go back to live with Grandmother Evila. He also informs them that expenses are getting too high with the cost of the hotel and other daily necessities. On the last attempt, a sweeping border patrol helicopter spots them. Reyna prays, begging God for a safe arrival: “I want to live in that perfect place. I want to have a father. I want to have a family” (157).

They cross successfully and hire another smuggler to drive them to Los Angeles. Reyna and her siblings hide in the backseat of a car, but finally the smuggler allows them to sit up and look around. Reyna is amazed by the scenery: “I had never seen so many palm trees, and there they were, on either side of the freeway […] And the cars were clean and shiny, so different from the rusty old cars back home” (158). As the car nears Los Angeles, Reyna asks her father how far they are from home; he replies, angrily, that America is now their home. The smuggler adds that the distance from Iguala is about 2,000 miles.