Merci Suárez Changes Gears

Merci and Ana have gone to the pharmacy to pick up Lolo’s new medicine. Merci hopes that it will restore Lolo to who he is supposed to be. Merci also picks up an apology greeting card for Edna. She’s forced to use money from her bike fund in order to do so. Merci is tempted to write Edna a spiteful letter, telling her that she got what she deserved for wrecking the Anubis mask, but Merci feels remorse for what happened. She follows one of Roli’s mantras, which states that the facts never fail anyone. She offers her sincere apology and the assurance that the incident was truly an accident; she assures Edna that “the average kid’s hair grows in at about 0.14 mm each day” and encloses a makeup pencil in the envelope (311).

Later, at Las Casitas, Merci sits in the backyard watching Lolo and the twins harvest grapefruits from the family tree. She snaps photos of the process, as Lolo works with Axel on the harvesting. Tomas keeps pestering Lolo, wanting to know when his turn is. Merci, afraid that Lolo will become impatient, takes Tomas and lifts him onto the handlebars of her bike. Under Abuela’s watchful eye, she takes Tomas for a spin. She marvels at the way she has switched place with Lolo, who has given all of the children countless bike rides over the years. When Lolo calls out that Tomas’s turn has come, Merci snaps a photo of Tomas running back toward the tree to join his grandfather.

It’s the day of Merci’s appointment with Dr. Newman, the principal of Seaward Pines. When she makes her way to the office for the meeting, she’s surprised to see not only an angry Edna, whom she expects, but also Hannah and Lena. Hannah and Lena want to attend the meeting too, in order to back up Merci as much as possible. When Miss McDaniels arrives, she tells Hannah and Lena to go to their classes. She then ushers Edna and Merci into a large room with a large and imposing table inside of it, where Dr. Newman and Ms. Tannenbaum are waiting.

Edna tells the assembled adults that Merci cut off her eyebrows on purpose. When Merci is asked to respond, she maintains that she did cut Edna’s eyebrows on purpose, in order to free her from the plaster which had accidentally become affixed to her face. When Dr. Newman asks Merci why she did not alert a teacher before cutting Edna’s eyebrows, Merci doesn’t want to say that Ms. Tannenbaum was not in the classroom at the time. Luckily, Ms. Tannenbaum openly admits her absence to Dr. Newman, who sternly tells her that that is a matter they will have to discuss. Merci then slides the greeting card over to Edna, muttering that it contains “something to help [her] eyebrows,” but Edna refuses to take it (319). Edna is also questioned about why she thinks the eyebrow mishap was a purposeful and malicious act, and she says that Merci has a history of mean acts. She rehashes the incident with Michael and the baseball as proof. Merci insists that that incident was an accident.

Miss McDaniels has both Merci and Edna recite the details of their arrival to school on October 30, the day the mask was destroyed. Merci learns that Edna arrived at school 20 minutes after herself on that day. Throughout the discussion, Miss McDaniels presents evidence of each girl’s timeline for the day in the form of the tardy and hall pass slips that she issued for each girl, as well as the incident report that she had Merci fill out. Security camera footage of Ms. Tannenbaum’s room appears on a television screen in the room. The footage shows Merci entering with her mask and then leaving without it. It’s fast-forwarded, and then the footage shows a giggling Edna and Jamie enter the classroom before running out. The next person to enter the classroom is Ms. Tannenbaum. Edna, speechless, puts her head on the table and begins to cry.

The school is abuzz with the scandal regarding Edna destroying Michael’s mask. Edna and Jamie have been expelled from the Sunshine Buddies Club, and Edna’s star has fallen. Michael now openly does not like her, thinking her “mean and ugly” (323). Merci realizes that being popular and having friends are not actually synonymous. Even though Merci tries to fight it, Lena and Hannah decide that her house is the best place for them to finish embellishing the sarcophagus. Merci is afraid that Lolo will have a bad day and embarrass her in front of her friends, but she has no other choice but to allow the girls to come.

When Lena rides to the casitas with Merci in Enrique’s paint van, while Hannah follows behind with her mother, who wants to make sure that everything is okay at Merci’s home before letting her daughter make a visit. Hannah’s mother looks around satisfied and leaves. Abuela welcomes the guests graciously. To Merci’s relief, Lolo is busy in the garden. Although Merci is pretty sure that he is uprooting flowers freshly planted by Abuela, she says nothing. The girls work all afternoon, successfully creating a beautifully-decorated sarcophagus. Hannah even appeases the twin’s sense of mischief by sprinkling glitter on their hands, promising them that it is magic dust.

Later, Ana invites Lena and Hannah to stay for dinner, despite Merci making faces at her. She is ashamed to admit it to herself, but Merci feels embarrassed by Lolo. She’s also afraid that he will do something in front of Hannah and Lena that will make her a laughingstock at school. She self-consciously washes the dirt from her grandfather’s hands and arms before dinner, upset that he allows her to do so like he is a helpless child. Merci hopes that Hannah and Lena aren’t judging her for this act.

When Lena and Hannah have each secured permission from their parents to stay for dinner, Merci decides to tell the girls that Abuelo has Alzheimer’s. Hannah asks Merci to explain the disease, and Merci tells her that Lolo’s mind isn’t quite right anymore, and that any strange things he may do can be attributed to his illness. Lena sympathetically offers that her own grandfather was sick with cancer for a long time. Later, Merci sees that some of the twins’ glitter has made its way into Lolo’s hair. They tell her that they’ve planted a “ga-million” magic dragons in Lolo’s garden using the “magic dust” (333). She then enjoys her meal with Lena and Hannah, whom she realizes have become her true friends. 

The day of The Great Tomb unveiling has arrived. Everything is ready except for the tomb’s unstable back wall—Michael and Rachel are standing sentry to keep it secure. Merci observes the two and realizes that there is something romantic happening between them.

The reporters are led through the project by Merci, Lena, and Hannah. During the interview, Merci is careful to assert that Edna also helped construct the sarcophagus by serving as the plaster model. Then, a picture is snapped for the paper. Merci is relieved that her amblyopic eye gives her no trouble during the shot. At the end of the day, Ms. Tannenbaum congratulates the class on a job well done, and winter break begins.

Before Merci leaves, Edna summons her over for a conversation. Merci leaves her family cautiously, who watch the entire interaction protectively. Edna hands Merci an envelope: “Miss McDaniels made you write a note too, huh?” Merci says. Edna confirms this and says that it took her three drafts before the letter was approved. Edna tells Merci that she is “mostly sorry” about the costume (339). When Merci asks what she means, Edna gestures toward Michael, who is saying goodbye to Rachel as they walk toward the parking lot: “I can’t believe I ever liked that dope,” Edna says. Merci corrects her: “Michael isn’t a dope […] He likes Rachel, that’s all. You can’t make people like you, Edna […] I should know” (340). Edna tells Merci that people do, indeed, like her.

To Merci’s surprise, Edna tells her that she’ll be spending winter break in the Dominican Republic, helping people with leprosy with her father. Merci cannot picture the imperious Edna happy ministering to the sick and poor. When Edna asks Merci what she is doing with her break, Merci is surprisingly not tempted to lie to Edna. Hannah is going to come over and babysit the twins. If the arrangement works out, it may even extend into the school year so Merci can be sure to try out for the softball team: “Lena [has also] promised to come over with her watercolors so [she and Merci] can paint with Lolo” (342). Merci and Lena are also going to work on an idea for a new volunteer service club to replace sunshine buddies, which is only in effect during the first part of the year. Merci’s idea is to organize student visits to Lourdes Killington Residence, in order to assuage the loneliness of residents who don’t get enough visits. Before the girls part ways, Merci apologizes for cutting Edna’s eyebrows off one more time. 

Nochebuena is in four days, and Merci is feeling pressed for time to finish her projects. She needs a ride to the store, and asks Roli, who is relaxing in a hammock, to drive her. Roli says no, insisting that he is busy. Merci asks him if he is still afraid to drive after the accident and reminds him that they can’t just walk or bike everywhere for the rest of their lives.

Roli pulls out an envelope from his number one college pick: Chapel Hill in North Carolina. He’s been accepted and awarded a hefty scholarship. Merci asks when Roli will tell the family. He tells her that he plans on doing so that night. She also feels suddenly sad about her brother’s departure, knowing that life at the casitas will not be the same without him. He promises Merci that he will visit on the holidays and tells her to text him to keep him abreast of all the family goings-on. Merci finally persuades him to take her to the store when she lets him in on her plans for her presents. 

Merci tells us that, every year, Las Casitas transform for Nochebuena. Red and green lights shaped like chili peppers festoon the property, and “merengues and salsas with horns and bongos and singers crooning about la estrellita de Belen” fill the air (347). Axel and Tomas go mad with delight with the vuvuzelas that are normally reserved for use during Enrique’s soccer games.

Simon arrives to the party with an unknown man in tow. Through his interactions with Tía Inés, Merci feels that it’s clear that romantic feelings between the two are mutual. Merci also notices that the man he’s arrived with, whom he introduces as his brother Vicente, looks an awful lot like Jake Rodrigo. Vicente is freshly arrived in the country and doesn’t speak much English, so the family uses mostly Spanish all night. Merci discovers that he, too, is a skilled soccer player, and he shows her a few tricks with the ball.

After a traditional feast at 11 o’clock in the evening, it’s time to open presents. Merci is presented with a beautiful bike: “not a kid’s bike […] but a twenty-six-inch beach cruiser, deep blue, almost like Lena’s hair” (351). Merci’s heart swells, as she can hardly believe that it’s true. She thanks her family and then for Lolo. It’s a leather-bound scrapbook and Merci has written “La Familia Suárez” in shiny marker on its cover. Inside, all of the family photographs she has been taking all year are displayed. They are labeled with peoples’ names. She tells her grandfather, “I left lots of pages blank in the back […] so we can add more this year. It’s to help you remember when it gets hard” (353). Lolo quietly says “Preciosa,” which he hasn’t called Merci in a while. The special name comforts her, and she knows that her grandfather loves the present.

After everyone has gone to bed, Merci takes her new bike for a spin in the casitas’ backyard. The bike is perfection, and she rides it faster and faster in laps around the backyard. Merci is grateful that she’s gotten exactly what she wanted, although she knows there are other things that she cannot have: things “like wishing that Lolo wasn’t sick and that everything could stay the same” (354). She realizes that, if things were to stay the same, then Tía Inés wouldn’t get another chance at love. Roli wouldn’t “go to college and get even smarter […] [and Merci herself] wouldn’t grow up at all. Staying the same could be just as sad as Lolo changing” (355). Merci doesn’t know what the upcoming year holds for her, but she feels okay with that: “All I have to do is take a deep breath and ride,” she says (355).