When the clock on the wall marks four thirty, I know it’s time to head to the bodega. I don’t want to be late, especially not now that I’ve been working shorter hours and Nelly and Erika have been doing so much of the work by themselves.

“I’ll be back for dinner,” I say to Amy and Sophie.

“Have a good shift,” Amy says in the same gentle tone she’s been using with my sister.

I stop with my hand on the door. I wish I could thank her, or say something about everything she’s been doing for my sister lately. I meet Amy’s eyes and open my mouth to speak, but in the end I just walk out of the apartment without saying anything.

14

THE IMMIGRATION LAWYER THAT UNCLE JORGE FOUND for Ma and Pa is a skinny man with graying hair. Having never met my own grandfathers, he looks to me like a stereotypical grandpa in the making: round glasses, hunched shoulders, wrinkles around his eyes. He has a low, soothing voice and a warm smile, and when he sits down next to me on the living room couch, the air around us shifts. There is a calm quality about him that I can’t really explain.

A part of me is grateful to him for taking my parents’ cases. I know he’s working pro bono, so he’s not making a penny out of this, but I also kinda hoped that he would be a bit more energetic. When I think of who I’d want to defend my parents in court, I like to imagine a lion—someone who’s going to fight for them to the death. Whether Mr. Wilkins will fight to the death, well… that’s to be determined.

“Your dad is lucky that his hearing was scheduled so soon,” he says to me. “Sometimes these things can take months.”

Lucky is one way to put it, I think to myself. Potentially getting kicked out of the country sooner rather than later isn’t exactly my idea of luck.

“Why is it happening so fast? And why is my mom’s process happening so slowly? She hasn’t even been in front of a judge yet.”

“All cases are different,” Mr. Wilkins says. “Your mother must’ve not mentioned this to you yet, but our request for a bond hearing went through.”

I straighten my back in my seat. “When is it?”

“Next Friday.”

“You mean the day after my dad’s hearing?”

Mr. Wilkins nods.

“So she has a little under a week to prepare.”

“There’s a different lawyer from my firm who’ll be taking the lead on your mom’s case. He’ll make sure she has everything she needs, but for now, you and I need to focus on your dad’s merits hearing.”

I nod once. “Let’s get to it, then. What do I need to do?”