Illegal Read Online Free Page A

it?
    In the kitchen, I looked inside the money jar. We had enough to buy our way across the border, but then what?
    A small light clicked on behind me. “What are youdoing?” asked Mama. Her eyes looked sleepily at the piles of money on the table.
    â€œI was thinking about America. Do we have enough to get across?”
    Mama rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. “I don’t know.”
    I bit the inside of my lip. “I think we should go find Papa.”
    â€œI need some coffee.” She yawned. “Maybe after the next harvest I could try to get a job in Mexico City and save more.”
    The answer became clear to me. “No. We need to go soon, not in a few months.”
    Mama shook her head. “We can’t just leave. There are things to do, and we can’t just leave Isabel.”
    â€œWe’re not leaving Grandma, because we would come back,” I insisted. This would be the plan: find Papa, get some education, and come back to fix Cedula.
    â€œNora, we can’t just leave. There isn’t enough money,” said Mama.
    I felt my voice rising above our midnight whispers. “This isn’t about money. It’s about Papa and what we are supposed to do.”
    We wouldn’t be abandoning Cedula. This would be the fix.
    Mama looked at me with concern. “We can’t just go.”
    Grandma stuck her head into the room. “What is all of this whispering?”
    I poured water into the pot and lit the stove. “Mama and I are going to Texas to find Papa,” I said with rising confidence.
    She raised her eyebrows. “What? Are you crazy? It’s five o’clock in the morning. Put the coffee away.”
    Mama shook her head slowly. “I’ve been thinking about it too.”
    I moved the stack of money and pulled out three mugs. “We’re going to find Papa and bring him home.”
    Grandma crossed her arms. “We’ll talk about this tomorrow. I’m going to call the doctor in the morning.”
    Mama and I said in unison, “No doctor!” Grandma stomped out of the room mumbling.
    I handed the stack of pesos to Mama. “Take the money. Do it for us.”
    Mama’s face was lined with worry. “Nora, I don’t know how to do this. Maybe we should wait.”
    I pushed the money into her hands. “If we wait any longer, then we’ll really be out of money.”
    I poured the steaming water into the cups and watched the lazy curls float upward. Maybe prayerwas like steam, going upward to heaven. Then hopefully the answers rain back down when you need them most.
    I pulled Mama’s hand into mine. “We need to be a ‘we’ again. Then everything can be okay.”

C HAPTER 8
Cartas
    The word was frozen permanently into Grandma’s face. No. No. No.
    Mama eyed me with concern. Grandma stared off in a different direction, as if ignoring us would make the entire conversation disappear.
    Later, I heard the voice from her morning Mass blast out of the television. Mama slipped quietly out the back door as I washed the dishes. The volume increased as the program continued, as if Grandma was trying to drown out her own thoughts with the television.
    As I tried to sneak out the back door, Grandma called from the couch, “I forbid you from going.”
    â€œI’m just going out to the orchard,” I called back to her.
    â€œIt’s the end of the conversation. You are not going to America .” She huffed air through her nose like an angry horse stomping in its stall.
    I hesitated, because I knew how Grandma would react. “Mama went into town to buy our bus tickets to the border,” I said.
    Grandma gasped as if I had punched her in the stomach. “What! We have to stop her. That money was for the tax man.”
    â€œNo, Grandma. I told her to do it.” The cuts on my arm were still hot and red from the fall.
    The rosary beads were wrapped around her hand so tightly I