How the García Girls Lost Their Accents Part 3, Chapter 2 Summary

The Human Body (Yoyo)

  • Back in the day, Yoyo and her sisters lived right next door to all their cousins, and they each had a BFFC. That's a "best friend forever cousin."
  • Carla, Sandi and Fifi all had girl BFFCs. But Yoyo had more fun hanging out with her boy cousin, Mundín.
  • Yoyo and Mundín got in trouble all the time. They broke things, used stuff without permission, and sort of accidentally tied up their little sisters and then forgot about them. Oops.
  • There's all sorts of political stuff going on: Papito has been appointed as ambassador to the United Nations, but every time he comes home, his house is crawling with guardias. It's very creepy for Papito and Mamita.
  • But the kids don't pay attention to all that political stuff. They're more interested in the cool toys Mamita brings them from New York.
  • The best one that Yoyo got was an American cowgirl outfit. It was just like Mundín's! Well, except for the skirt, of course.
  • On the latest trip to NYC, Mamita took her daughter Mimí along. Mimí was known as "the genius of the family." You know, because she actually liked to read books and stuff.
  • Mimí had even gone to an American college for two years, before her parents pulled her out. Too much education spoils a girl for marriage, you know.
  • It's cool with Yoyo that Mimí is single. In fact, Yoyo intends to be single her whole life. Marriage? Yuck.
  • Unfortunately, Mimi seems to have influenced Mamita's purchasing decisions on this last trip, because Mamita comes back with suitcases full of school supplies. Bo-ring!
  • Yoyo gets a stupid book. But Mundín gets a cool model of the human body. It's a see-through doll with little plastic organs.
  • Yoyo and Mundín put The Human Body together. Then Mundín gets bored. Why'd they get him a stupid doll?
  • Hey, this doll isn't so bad, Yoyo thinks. At least it's a boy doll, with guts. That's pretty neat.
  • But why doesn't this boy doll have something to pee out of? Nope, no "pee-er" whatsoever. That seems like a pretty important part of the male body. Shouldn't somebody have noticed this? (3.2.14)
  • Fortunately, Mamita snuck in some silly presents, too: some totally mind-numbing, non-intellectual presents. Yessss.
  • Yoyo gets a paddle with a rubber ball attached with a string. And Mundín gets a big ol' packet of pink modeling clay. Super cool.
  • Yoyo begs Mundín to trade her something for the clay. She wants it so bad. But Mundín thinks her presents are all too girly.
  • To punish him, Yoyo pretends to be interested in her book... which turns out to actually be interesting.
  • Fine! Mundín says. He'll trade. Yoyo generously says she'll give him whatever he wants.
  • Mundín gets a mischievous look on his face, and says he wants Yoyo to show him she's a girl.
  • Where can they get some privacy for this big reveal? There's a coal shed on the back of the property. The kids aren't supposed to play there, but they'll risk it.
  • Fifi tags along when they go to the coal shed. Yoyo feels a little weird about this, but she really wants the clay. So she drops her underwear. (And Fifi does, too.)
  • Mundín is unimpressed. He says they look like dolls, and gives each of them half the clay. Yoyo thinks this is unfair, because Fifi wasn't part of the deal.
  • Mundín promises to give Yoyo the Human Body doll if she'll keep quiet, and then runs because he thinks he hears his mom coming.
  • Tía Carmen and the gardener bust into the coal shed and catch Yoyo and Fifi. Just then, Mundín comes back with the Human Body doll. Bad timing, kid. The Human Body falls to the floor, and Tía Carmen walks on the pieces.
  • To get out of trouble, Yoyo comes up with a quick lie—they were hiding from the guardia!
  • Tía Carmen freaks out and sends all the kids home. They don't have time to find all the pieces to the Human Body right now—the guardia are here. It's an emergency!
  • Later, when they gather up all the little plastic organs they can find, most of the pieces have been chewed on by dogs or squashed under someone's shoe. There's no putting this model together again.