Merci Suárez Changes Gears

Merci has accompanied Ana to the Lourdes Killington Residence in Palm Beach, where Ana is giving a physical therapy presentation. The Residence is a swanky elder care facility. She waits in the car for well over half an hour over the time her mother gave her, so she goes into the facility to find her mother. Merci is given directions at the front desk but soon gets lost on the way to the room where her mother is giving her talk. On the way there, she wanders into a hospital-like area that contrasts with the luxury hotel-like appearance of most of the facility. There, she sees a sick man slumped in a bed with his mouth open, as well as a small and unhappy-looking woman. An aide guides her to the correct room. The aide asks Merci if her grandparents are residents, and Merci blanches at the idea, unable to imagine Las Casitas without her grandparents.

Once she’s reunited with her mother, Merci asks her if Lolo and Abuela will ever live at a place like the Residence. Ana calmly explains that sometimes, elderly people need more care than their families can provide and need to live in places like the Residence. She says that those elderly people have plenty activities to keep them busy and happy, but Merci says, “It’s not all like that, Mami. I saw people who looked…alone and sick” (211). Merci also recalls the way that Abuela has spoken with horror and disparagement about such places in the past. She asks her mother if her grandparents will ever be sent to a residential facility. Ana assures Merci that, for now, Lolo and Abuela have the entire family to care for them. On the way home, Merci loses her thirst to look at bikes. She has $90 saved toward her new bike by now but doesn’t earnestly look at anything when they stop at the shop on the way home. 

It’s Autumn in Florida. Seaward is in preparation for its autumn festival, which falls right on Halloween this year. Merci will help to put the festival on as a part of her 6th-grade obligation, but she’s looking forward to it. Her group decides to design and create an ancient Egypt-themed cornhole apparatus as their contribution to the festival. Ms. Tannenbaum has also promised to give extra credit to all students who come dressed as their favorite ancient Egyptian deity.

When Merci and Michael find themselves talking in the hall after class, Michael asks her what her costume will be. Merci privately muses that Michael better not be developing any feelings for her, as her heart belongs to Jake Rodrigo. She tells Michael that she is unsure, but that her grandmother, who used to own a dress shop, will be making the costume. She omits the part about Abuela’s shop being in her home’s back bedroom. She also intimates that Abuela has never let any of the children buy costumes, as she has lovingly, expertly, and creatively crafted each of them herself. Michael takes this as an opportunity to ask for her help constructing his Anubis costume. He tells her that he bombed the last quiz and needs the extra credit. He also tells her that it’d look great as a sunshine buddy if she helps him out. Merci, nervously remembering the way that her grandparents teased her about Michael, tells him that she’ll ask her grandmother.

When Merci arrives home, she finds the twins done up in mad scientist costumes composed of household items and two lab coats that Roli was able to get for them. Abuela grouses that she had made elaborate preparations for pirate costumes for the twins. Merci assures Abuela that she’ll have plenty of costume work to do, as she’d like her help with crafting her Egyptian deity costume. Abuela is enlivened by this idea, eager to make Merci a pretty and becoming costume, but Merci rolls her eyes: “That’s exactly what I’m trying to avoid. Cloth wound around me tightly. Wigs. Eyeliner. Jewelry. Blech” (220). She tells Abuela that she’d like to be Ammut—a demon with “the head of a crocodile, the body of a lioness, and the rump of a hippopotamus”—instead (220). Abuela crosses herself and laments this idea. She says that she will not turn Merci into something evil. Merci responds, “But Ammut wasn’t evil […] She ate the souls of those who had been wicked in life. Plus, there are superpowers to consider. She was immortal and could be in two places at one time” (221).

When Ana joins the conversation, she asserts that Merci is old enough to determine what she likes and wants: “No,” Abuelo says—“She’ll always be my little preciosa” (221). Suddenly, Lolo’s nickname for Merci upsets her: It makes her feel constricted. Merci broaches the topic of Michael. She asks Abuela if she can help him make a jackal head for his costume. Tía Inés’s ears perk at the mention of Michael, and Merci exasperatedly tells the family that yes, it’s that Michael. Abuela says that she’ll help, but that he’ll need to come to her house for a fitting. Merci slightly panics at this idea, knowing that it will entail Michael coming home with her after school, but she texts him to ask if he can come over the following day. A bolt of nerves hits her stomach when he replies with a yes. 

The next day, Ana is sick. Merci is confronted by an unhappy-looking Edna and Jamie upon her arrival at Seaward. They ask her if Michael is coming to her house. When Merci says that he is, in order to work on his costume with her grandmother’s help, they tell her that Michael likes Edna, not her. Merci tells them that that doesn’t matter, as she is simply helping Michael with a school project and fulfilling her role as his sunshine buddy. She then proceeds with hauling the paint cans she’s secured from her father for the cornhole project to class. At lunchtime, Edna and the rest of the girls are especially icy to Merci.

After school, Michael rides in the front seat of the car as Roli drives. Edna and the girls watch as Michael leaves with Merci, and once Merci gets into the car, she sees that Edna has sent her a snap. In it, Edna crosses her eyes and lolls her tongue out. Merci doesn’t know whether Edna is making fun of her amblyopic eye, but the snap feels crueler than usual. When Merci, Roli, and Michael arrive at the casitas, Merci warns Michael that Abuela can be quite picky and bossy. Merci and Roli have already worked out a plan for how to deal with Lolo. The twins come running out of the house and accost Michael with rude questions, about which Abuela chastises them. Abuela warmly greets Michael, but Lolo treats him rudely, not acknowledging Merci’s introduction and repeating “Ana is sick” instead. Roli gently leads him away to his casita for a game of dominoes.

Abuela has laid out a spread of pastries from El Caribe for the children, which Michael cautiously and politely tries. Then, she shows him her sketches for his costume. Michael feels some consternation about the fact that he will essentially be wearing a skirt but is completely dazzled when Abuela presents her piece de resistance: an intricate and beautiful frame for a jackal’s head, complete with a hinged jaw, that she has constructed. Michael excitedly thanks her and tells her that it’s perfect. Abuela tells him that the mask is not yet fully done, and that he’ll need to add the finishing touches in paint when she’s done with her part. Merci knows that her grandmother has worked very hard today and makes a mental note to give her a special massage to help with her arthritis later. She offers to give Abuela a rest rather than working on her costume immediately following her work on Michael’s. 

In Ms. Tannenbaum’s class on Monday, she gives everyone one minute to pair up with a partner that they have never worked with in class before. Michael asks Merci to be his partner in the last ten seconds, and Merci has no other choice. Edna and the other girls try to stop this pairing, telling Ms. Tannenbaum that Merci and Michael are working on costumes together. Michael reminds Ms. Tannenbaum that she stipulated that students were required to pair up with someone they have never worked with in class, and that they are working on costumes outside of class. Michael and Merci work successfully on the worksheet, and Michael asks her about her grandmother’s progress on the costumes. Merci assures him that he will receive an A grade.

A week later, Merci arrives late to school with the completed jackal mask, ready for Michael’s painted embellishment. When Merci stops by Ms. Tannenbaum’s classroom to drop off the mask with her, she finds the classroom empty. Although she briefly considers leaving the mask back with Miss McDaniels in the office, she ends up leaves the mask on Ms. Tannenbaum’s desk and writes a note on the whiteboard that she’s left it there for Michael. She takes one last look at the perfect mask and looks forward to Abuela finishing her own costume that evening.

When Merci later heads to her locker and finds Edna and the other girls there, conversing with one another, she asks Jamie if the game board for the festival is done, but Jamie ignores her. The girls loudly discuss a party that Edna is throwing to which boys are invited. Even Lena, who is never invited to events by Edna, has been invited. Merci has heard nothing about it. She understands that she is being ignored and excluded on purpose. When Edna and her group leave, Lena tells her that she thinks she saw David bringing completed cornhole boards into campus that morning. Merci thanks her for the information.

When Merci arrives at Ms. Tannenbaum’s classroom for her third period class, the Anubis mask is nowhere in sight. She spots it in the garbage. It’s been ripped in half and trampled on. When Merci looks for her note on the whiteboard, she finds that it has been completely erased. Ms. Tannenbaum knows nothing about what has happened, and never saw the note. She apologizes to Merci for the damage to the mask, but Merci knows that Edna, who has steadfastly ignored her all class period, is behind it. Michael is upset to see the state of his mask, knowing that the assignment is due tomorrow. 

At lunchtime, Merci goes to Roli for advice. She cries as she tells him what happened. She plans on telling Ms. Tannenbaum that it must have been Edna who destroyed the Anubis mask. Roli warns her against this course of action, counseling that it may backfire on her since she has no evidence of Edna’s involvement, and that Ms. Tannenbaum is bound to believe Edna more than Merci. Merci realizes that she’ll also have to explain why Edna is upset with her in the process, if she chooses that course of action; she holds off. After school, Michael asks Merci what happened to the mask. Edna tells him that she isn’t sure who damaged it. Michael tells her that now he’ll have no costume for the next day, nor for Edna’s party. Merci can’t tell if he is saying this in order to be cruel to her, or if he simply doesn’t know that Merci hasn’t been invited. He then leaves her to join Edna and the other kids. 

Merci remembers that, last year, when Edna was her sunshine buddy, she promised to take her snorkeling at Coral Cove but never did. Merci knows that the dread she feels about the festival is even worse than waiting for the snorkeling invitation from Edna. She doesn’t have the heart to tell Abuela what has happened to Michael’s Anubis mask, and Abuela finishes up her Ammut costume just fine. 

In Ms. Tannenbaum’s class, it is time for students to give presentations about their costumes. Merci arrives in the wonderful costume that Abuela has constructed for her. Edna has dressed as Isis, complete with a shiny black wig, liquid eyeliner, a bedsheet snugly wrapped about her, and shining bracelets covering her arms: “She looks pretty in the way that older girls do,” Merci thinks (253). When it’s Lena’s turn, she turns on flute music on her phone and does a dance as she explains who she is: Nut, “mother of Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Nephthys” (255). She wears a blue shirt adorned with scarves that matches her hair. Ms. Tannenbaum tells her that her presentation was amazing, and that she didn’t know that Lena was a dancer: “Everyone is a dancer,” Lena replies (255). When it’s Merci’s turn, she gives her speech about Ammut. She finishes her speech with a warning: “‘Beware: If your bad deeds outweigh [Ma’at’s] feather’…(here [Merci looks] straight at Edna and [snaps her] jaws hard) ‘I’ll make a meal of you. You have been warned’” (256).

Merci does not enjoy the fair, even though the cornhole attraction is successful. She privately misses her 5th-grade teacher, who used to show a tenderness to the class that her middle-school teachers do not. She also feels sad that everyone except her will be headed to Edna’s party after the fair. As everyone is leaving campus, Miss McDaniels approaches Merci and asks her if her sunshine buddy is getting on well. Merci tells her that she’s sure he’s having fun somewhere, and Miss McDaniels narrows her eyes as she notices Merci’s distance from Michael, Edna, and the others. Michael catches up to her and has time to take the candy corn that Merci has won before darting off to join Edna’s party.