Moving Still
- The family is in Corcoran at the start of this chapter and Papá has a problem—his back is hurting him big time, and it's the end of cotton season so they'll probably have to move to make ends meet.
- But there's an even bigger problem on the block: la migra, a bunch of officials who search for undocumented workers who aren't legally allowed to work in California. Papá has already gotten his documents set, so he can work, but a lot of the family—including Francisco—would be in big trouble if la migra found them.
- There was one time back in Santa Maria where they almost got caught. Luckily dad was the only adult home and his green card made everything okay.
- Since la migra have been looking for undocumented workers in Corcoran, Francisco and his family decide to head back to Santa Maria.
- At least one good thing about Santa Maria is that they've spent lots of time in that town, so it's basically like returning home.
- This means it's road trip time. Again. And right off the bat we can tell Francisco is seriously stoked—he can't wait to get back to his old friends and old school, plus they get to live in the same barrack they had last year, so that's cool.
- Soon, Roberto and Francisco are signed up for school, and so are some of the younger brothers. Francisco is in eighth grade. And he's got two cool teachers this year: Mr. Milo and Miss Ehlis.
- Mr. Milo arranges the desks so the highest scoring students sit in the front, and our main man is always in the first or second seat.
- That's right—Francisco's a bit of a math wiz.
- But there's some rough stuff going on at home. Papá still has back problems, which means he can't pick crops anymore. Roberto has a solution: he'll get a job in town that'll keep them in Santa Maria all year long. Francisco obviously loves this idea.
- Roberto turns to Mr. Sims, that cool principal that we met back in Chapter 3, for some help. Mr. Sims gets Francisco an interview at a shoe store, and the whole family is psyched about it. Especially Francisco. But it turns out the job isn't working in the shoe store but working as a gardener, which Roberto doesn't want to do. Huge bummer.
- Miss Ehlis is having everyone memorize part of the Declaration of Independence and recite it out loud. Francisco feels too scared to recite it in front of the class, so he plans to do it just to Miss E.
- You know how we felt all that sadness about Roberto not getting the job he wanted? Well Mr. Sims offered Roberto a janitor position at a school instead, and he can have the job all year long. The family is stoked.
- So now Francisco spends his time memorizing the Declaration of Independence passage and helping his big brother out at his new job.
- When Friday comes around, Francisco practices reciting his passage on the bus. He's seriously ready to go. But before Francisco gets a chance to show off his new skills, there are some scary dudes at the classroom door. Yep—it's border patrol. Wait, what? But Francisco was about to have a big shining moment in school…
- Sadly, Francisco and the immigration officer head to Roberto's school and there's nothing our main man can do about it.
- And that takes us to the end of our emotional roller coaster. Tissues, anyone?