Teen Novel

Kate Lacy

The van began to groan as her father drove up scenic Highway 71, and Adia woke up. All around them the trees loomed close to the road, blotting out everything beyond. Up high a moon glowed just like back home in El Paso, but only slivers weaseled through the trees and brush. Ahead and behind them, the road was a ribbon of moonlight. Oh, wouldn’t Lit IV be impressed with her for remembering? Senora Hernandez had tried and tried to make her junior classes relate to Tennyson’s The Highwayman

She settled back into her pillow against the window, counting up the "good" reasons they were moving to Arkansas, to the Ozarks, to someplace called Springdale, to a town where nobody spoke Spanish. Titling her head back, she ground her teeth and blinked a couple of times, remembering how she and Gerardo had planned to marry and live in Juarez while working in El Paso. No taxes, lots of savings. It would have been a perfect way to start off. Screaming with anger, gritado en colera just barely described her reaction to the news. She should have demanded to stay with her grandmother, Abuelita Ima. Her father would have given in, but her mother was a rock. La familia stayed together, no matter what.

Gerardo was always welcome to come to Arkansas and work while the courtship of the oldest daughter continued, but no graduation with dearest friends, no wedding, no apartment with a shady courtyard in Juarez. Mamacita was short and cuddly, but she was a dynamite and nobody won arguments against her. Adia would finish her senior year at Springdale High School, like it or not.

"Anybody awake?"

"Si, Papa," whispered Adia. She leaned forward and put her face close to his ear.

"We are almost there, I think. Can you open the map? This is someplace called Winslow."

Adia opened the map, found Winslow and whispered, "Bueno. Winslow, then Greenland, then Fayetteville, then Springdale. Just stay on 71. Do you want me to call Tio Rudolpho and tell him we're close?"

"Si, preguntele donde satisfacer, ask him again where we should wait for him to meet us."

Uncle Rudolpho met them at the Walgreens just inside Springdale and led them east to the apartments along Powell Street. As they fell out of the van in the darkness, hauling their backpacks, Adia wondered where they were all going to fit in a two bedroom apartment.

Rudolpho was excited to see them. "We got a break this afternoon. The manager gave me your keys early, so you can go right in. We're in 1425-A and you're 1532-A, just in the next building. Follow me. When we unload just pull out what you need for the night, Anna May has supper waiting."

The apartment was cold and empty. Sleeping on the floors in the motels on the way had at least been warm. Her brothers ran into the largest room and piled all their clothes and blankets into three piles. "Take care of your sisters, Adia," said her mother.

The little girls, Junisa and Juliana, hauled blankets and pillows from the van. Everyone was sleepy, hungry and so tired, but Mama kept giving orders until the whole van was empty and pallets were made. Then teeth had to be brushed and hands washed before they could stop. The girls claimed the bathroom while the boys headed for the kitchen sink.

Finally Papa announced he was starving and herded them around the corner and up a flight of stairs to Uncle Rudolpho and Aunt Anna May. Then had never met Tio Rudolpho's wife who came from Minnesota. She opened the door of 1425-A with a big smile and actually giggled. Then she grabbed Jorge and Eduardo in hugs and pulled them in. "Welcome everybody!" I'm Tia Anna May, don't you know?" Adial pulled back a little as Anna May planted kisses on her cheeks. Then this strange woman's fingers were running through her hair. "Oh my goodness! You have the most beautiful hair! Look at all of these curls! I am so jealous. It must be such a blessing. Come, find a chair and let's eat. How was the trip? I'm sorry it took so long. Rudolpho was afraid that van wouldn't make it."

The boys grabbed for hotdogs and chili, but Adia chose tuna salad. On the kitchen counter were cheese dip with salsa, apple pie and cola. So this is Middle America, she thought. My own uncle eats hotdogs and tuna. He's living the white life, and my world is coming to an end. What's a good Mexican girl got to do to stay alive in Arkansas? At least in El Paso, Mexicans were respected, and everybody was bilingual in Ysleta High. What if I say something stupid and everybody thinks I'm a gringa wantabe? How am I going to get a job that means anything? I'm just going to be one brown face in the crowd. I'm going to be invisible. Adios, university.

Without warning, the apartment door bounced open, and a tall bronze teen walked in, took one look straight into Adia's eyes and twirled in a samba beat, two-stepping across the living room to fall on his knees at her feet. Pulling one earplug out and still nodding his head to the beat, he grinned up at her, "Senorita Adia, welcome to mi casa. My homies, they're waiting to meet you, Chica. Come outside, blow these old folks and let's go for comida Espana. I know places where the party goes on until 2 am." He jumped up, kissed his mother and grabbed a bottle of coke. "Coming?"

"Ricardo, no." said Tio Rudolpho. "Stay home tonight. Give your uncle and his family time to get to know you and your mother. Give the party life a rest for once."

"I won't lose her in the next hour or so, Papa."

"Muchas gracias, Tia Anna," Adia said politely as she watched Ricardo's hiphop shuffle to the door. He thumped the younger kids on their heads and went through knuckle-tapping routines with one of her brothers. "I'm not sleepy at all. I'm coming, Ricardo." Why hadn't they told her that her cousin was so tall? He didn't seem totally white, maybe this wouldn't be so terrible after all.

As both sets of parents wailed for the teens to stay home, they slammed the apartment door and ran for the van of kids waiting in the parking lot. Springdale, Arkansas? Buena suerte. Good luck!