Under The Mesquite

Papi and the children cross the border with Mexico to attend their familiar church. Offering their prayers and anxieties to the altar of this particular church helps the family endure the fear permeating their lives—their mother’s cancer treatments. Papi buys the family “elotes calientitos”, a roasted corn dish that calms and bonds the family. As Lupita eats her corn, she declares to herself her desire to be strong and conquer.

Mami and Lupita watch telenovelas together, and Lupita admires how well her mother looks after the summer of the surgery. Lupita and Mami cry together as they watch the show, but Lupita notices how beautiful the women on the telenovelas look even when they’re crying. When Lupita thinks of becoming one of these telenovela actresses, she criticizes her own body, which she describes as chubby. This time watching the telenovela is Mami and Lupita’s special time together, in which Lupita explains, “In the midst of her busy life, she has carved out a special time for us. Every afternoon before dinner, while the rest of the kids play outside, she and I become sisters…” (Page 59). Meanwhile, Papi wants to watch his boxing matches, so he leaves to meet his friends at the truck stop. 

Lupita is taking a drama class at her high school. One day, her teacher Mr. Cortes, gives her a box of instructional CDs for voice lessons and Blow Pop lollipops. He tells Lupita to practice the lessons with the Blow Pops in her mouth so she’ll lose her accent and therefore become a more serious actress. Lupita wonders if the Blow Pops are how Mr. Cortes lost his accent and jokes that she doesn’t have an accent.

On December 12, Lupita turns 15 years old. Because of Mami’s chemo treatments, there is no money to throw Lupita a quinceañera, a fact her mother is sad over, but Lupita insists is not a problem. Lupita prefers to spend time with her family than be pampered on her day, and she watches as her father works extra hard to make up the money spent on the chemotherapy. 

Lupita notices several different reactions to her turning 15, the marker of her next step away from childhood and towards womanhood. Mireya and Sarita, Lupita’s friends, believe señorita means they can wear lipstick, while for Mami it is high heels that signify womanhood. Lupita’s aunts Maritza and Belen make a special dress for Lupita’s 15th birthday, a dress that signifies her growing into adulthood. Papi becomes more watchful of boys around Lupita, and she is told she can’t date in high school. Lupita doesn’t mind and thinks, “That’s fine with me. I have better things to do than think about boys—like prepare for my future. I want to be the first one in our family to earn a college degree” (Chapter 18, Page 69). Lupita notices that her younger sisters now idolize her more as a woman among little girls. But Lupita is struggling with this new chapter in her life. She believes becoming a senorita brings with it the end of a life of loud joy. 

While at lunch with her friends, Sarita starts to tease Lupita for her new Americanized accent. Lupita is offended by Sarita’s suggestion that Lupita thinks she’s better, more “Anglo” now that she’s in drama. The girls almost fight, but Victoria comes over to calm Lupita down. Victoria assures Lupita that her friends are jealous that drama is taking her away from them. Lupita insists that she doesn’t need to prove that she’s Mexican; being Mexican is about supporting one another.

It is Spring Break, and Lupita and her family are happy to be back in Mexico. Lupita frees herself again, playing mermaid in the water while her brother plays predator. She feels connected to the blazing sun in Mexico, a symbol of the Ancient Father, a god-like force in her Aztec heritage.

At the end of a school day, Lupita waits for the rush of students leaving to pass. She prefers to wait until the halls are empty. While she waits at her desk, Mireya and Sarita walk past, and Mireya hands over Lupita’s notebook diary, in which she keeps her poetry expressing her most private thoughts. When Lupita reads through the notebook at home, she finds what she was looking for: a sign that Mireya read it. Lupita finds a pink sticky note on the page where she wrote about the incident in the cafeteria when Sarita made fun of her accent. Mireya leaves a note on the page that says, “I’m sorry.” 

Lupita wins an award for her acting rendition of a poem, and she is proud of her first trophy. Mireya, who still hasn’t really spoken to her since the incident in the cafeteria, admires the trophy and sincerely tells her it was worth taking on a new accent for. Lupita reminds her that the way she speaks cannot define her heritage. Lupita compares her friendship with Mireya it to two chicks in a pen in order to reflect that friendships are like chosen family that require work.

Lupita brings her new trophy home to show her family. Mami is ecstatic, and all the siblings admire Lupita. Lupita is still incredulous, but Mami assures her that she’s “a rising star, the light on our horizon” (88).