Shine On, Luz Véliz!: Chapters 24–36

At dinner, I try to stay perfectly civil, perfectly polite.

She lets out an exasperated sigh, but she taps the keyboard.

They completely ignored me, when it was clear that I was saying something important. Solana’s nice to everyone, maybe too nice, but wow, they’re obnoxious.

“I’m attaching this new sensor to the block,” Trevor says, connecting a small white cube to a rectangular block with a black cord. “The hard part is telling the robot what to do with the input.”

Solana is listening closely, especially when Ms. Freeman translates. Or tries to translate. The words aren’t easy to understand even in English. Studded beam, axle joiner, bushings.

Instead of jumping up and getting a bot to experiment with, I slump into a chair.

I’m glad we can’t talk, because after the 8-Ball Announcement Fiasco, I’m not ready to tell him about Robotics Club or my Showcase plan.

Go ahead and eat the welcome cake. Snack rules waived today.

Solana makes an X on her chest with her arms and then makes a hilarious face by rolling her eyes back and letting her tongue loll out from one side of her mouth.

"Oh, okay. The Day of the Departed, right? And All Saints Day. Here, that would be Halloween and the day after.”

She must mean that the kites help spirits visit the living. “They’re so colorful, like giant kaleidoscopes,” I say.

“You could code that same Magic 8-Ball in Scratch. It would make a good first project, and you already know the concepts.”

Her eyebrows furrow. I’m guessing she doesn’t know what Scratch is.

I have to nod, sheepish again at how wrong I was.

I open it up to see a ring of intricate symbols circling a kneeling figure on one side, and a long table of numbers on the other.

“What a treasure this is,” Mr. Mac says. “Thick paper and vibrant colors.”

Jaguars have strength and high energy. These people can be builders and makers unless they become angry. Traits: intelligent, courageous, decisive, practical.

Watch out, jaguars, for being too proud, eager for honor, and envious. Try to be more thankful.

“It’s a fractal,” Mr. Mac says. “You see the self-similarity? Each part is the same shape as the whole. Here’s another one.”
This time a Y branches out to look like a tree. Each Y grows another Y, which grows another Y, until it fills the screen.

“I proposed to her as soon as I could work up the nerve.” Mr. Mac puts down the photo and comes out of his reverie.

“God is energy that sustains everything,” I read aloud.

“Part of inspiration is attending to the simple tasks of life. Even spiritualizing them. So I think it’s time for me to sand some wood.”

It’s Saturday, so I can lie here a long time, just savoring the smells. Fried eggs with salt. Ripe plantains simmered in oil. Fresh cilantro, probably on top of black beans, and homemade corn tortillas. A full Guatemalan breakfast like my abuela made when we visited.

Dad’s face looks stricken, and he says slowly, “She says you’re the real daughter, Luz, and she’s a fake.”

I’ve seen a thousand photos of sisters sitting back to back in the bluebonnets, or siblings tiered shortest to tallest with the field of deep blue all around them.

Texas isn’t lush, but it’s got open skies and distant horizons, all right, at least here.

She’s from east Texas, where dense forests make the sky seem like bits of blue streamer snagged on the treetops.

She’s from east Texas, where dense forests make the sky seem like bits of blue streamer snagged on the treetops.

As if on cue, the ELL girls walk by and Solana calls them over.

I was hoping to surprise them with a project so stupendous that they would forget about soccer and everything I can’t do anymore.

“It doesn’t matter!”
His sharpness makes me flinch. I’ve never heard him talk that way.

I hand him a plastic bin that seems to have a giant pen attached to a cord, plus some metal parts. “What will you do with it?”
“This stylus burns the wood. I’ll write Connor’s name on each block.”

He pantomimes and points, so she’ll understand.

With epoxy glue, he attaches the chains to the hearts, and presents us with our necklaces.

Solana tries one scoop of Raspberry Truffle and one Vanilla.

She’s becoming a naturalized citizen.

“It makes you a permanent resident. But green cards can be revoked sometimes.”

He might have had ‘authorized stay’ status. Maybe he applied for asylum, but then got denied.

They call reasons like Rodrigo’s ‘humanitarian,’ and humanitarian reasons aren’t always deemed important.

They call reasons like Rodrigo’s ‘humanitarian,’ and humanitarian reasons aren’t always deemed important.