BooksBarbecue
Back Indivisible
Chapters (36)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. PART ONE
  4. 1
  5. 2
  6. 3
  7. 4
  8. 5
  9. 6
  10. 7
  11. 8
  12. 9
  13. 10
  14. 11
  15. 12
  16. 13
  17. 14
  18. 15
  19. 16
  20. PART TWO
  21. 17
  22. 18
  23. 19
  24. 20
  25. 21
  26. 22
  27. 23
  28. 24
  29. 25
  30. 26
  31. 27
  32. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  33. Discover More
  34. A Sneak Peek of "Brighter Than the Sun"
  35. 1
  36. PRAISE FOR

My heart hurts a little when I think of Ma. What is she doing right now? Does she realize what time it is—that it’s time for the telenovela? Is she thinking about us, wondering if we’re watching?

Focus, I tell myself. Don’t get distracted. Because when she comes back home and tries to catch up on Pasiones, I’ll need to be able to bring her up to speed with everything that’s happened.

6

“DID I DREAM IT?” IS THE FIRST thing Sophie says when she wakes up on Saturday morning.

I hesitate. A part of me doesn’t want to answer. I want to let her think that she did—that it was all a dream and Ma and Pa are out there, making huevos rancheros for breakfast like they do every weekend. I want her to hold on to that hope, if only for a few seconds, but then I shake my head.

“No, Sophie,” I say. “You didn’t dream it.”

She slept in my room again last night. After watching Pasiones, we both realized our exhaustion was greater than our anxiety, and we fell asleep easily.

“Come on,” I say to her. Just as I wanted her to feel hope for as long as possible, I don’t want her to hang on to this feeling of disappointment any longer than she has to. “We have things to do.”

We eat a bit of dry cereal for breakfast, and I wash our bowls quickly. Then, I ask Sophie to grab the bag of dirty laundry while I go into my room to grab some money. I pull out one of the storage boxes from under the bed, dig into the back pocket of my old jeans, and count the bills: two hundred and eleven dollars. I don’t know how long this is going to last us, but it’ll have to do for now. I grab sixty bucks and put the rest of the money back in its place, praying that when the end of the month comes and it’s time to pay the rent, we’ll have figured out a way to cover our expenses that doesn’t involve just taking money from Jorge.

First, we go to the laundromat on Thirteenth Street, and Sophie helps me fill up two washing machines. Once I insert the coins and our clothes start spinning, we turn around and walk out of there. We have forty-five minutes before we have to come back to take our clothes out of the washers, so we might as well get started on everything else we need to do.