Summary
In the seventh session, Cara talks about the fortune teller, Alicia, who she writes to. Cara says that Alicia told her that good fortune awaits her. She also talks about how La Vieja Caridad said she would be a good school security guard. She talks about a time when a strange man approached Ángela's daughter, Yadrisela, while the three of them were out for a walk. Cara says she didn't want to stop and talk to him but they did because Ángela wanted to. He takes a picture of them and then leaves. Cara is disturbed by this interaction and follows Yadrisela home from school the following day. Nothing happens to Yadrisela but a girl is kidnapped in the same neighborhood later that week. Cara feels confident that she did the right thing, as she had a bad feeling about the encounter with the man. She says this makes her certain she would be a good security guard.
She then tells another story about how she was once watching the security camera and saw two young girls in the stairwell. She goes downstairs, concerned that they are doing drugs, but discovers that they are just kissing. She pretends to drop her keys and then goes away. She does not tell the girl's mother. She says to Lissette that in this moment she saw more clearly how she should have been more gentle with Fernando and that failing to be gentle can cause you to lose your kids.
She says that she was able to find Fernando again and saw him painting the lobby of an apartment building. She surprises him with her visit and he knocks over a can of white paint. She asks him to come to dinner and he says ok, but he never does. The chapter ends with the text of a restraining order between Cara and Fernando, barring Cara from seeing Fernando. It also shows text from a job application for a daycare center.
In the following session, Cara says she has taken Lulu in. Cara sees that Lulu needs some space from Adonis and his family, as they have moved in with her. Lulu is forced to care for Adonis's children and has to follow a strict set of guidelines. Cara says she thinks the daycare center job would not be a good fit, as she does not want to agree to the discipline plan, which she thinks is too lenient. Cara talks about Ángela and Hernán having kids. She says she frequently watched Yadrisela as a baby and Ángela was sometimes jealous of her ability to soothe her.
Cara then recounts a time when she watched Ángela's two children, Julio and Yadrisela. She says that Julio was very rude to her and she shook him and yelled at him. Ángela walks in to witness this and gets extremely angry at her, saying that she is just like their mother and that she is no longer allowed to watch her kids. She then reveals that Ángela was viciously beaten by their mother for letting Cara back into the house the night she fled Ricardo. As a result, Cara says, she wanted to be nothing like her.
Finally, Cara reveals that the day Fernando walked out on her it was because she hit him with an iron. She says that he was about to go out wearing tight pants and she got angry at him. He yells at her in response and, in a rage, she throws an iron at his head. She immediately regrets what she has done and runs over to him, making sure that he is not seriously injured. He storms out and slams the door. She assumes he will return later, but he does not. She cries in Lissette's office and feels ashamed. The chapter ends with another rent statement, indicating Cara still owes more money.
In the ninth session, Cara talks about trying to mend things with her sister. She also talks about her marriage to Ricardo, saying it was good at first but eventually soured when she did not have children right away. She says that she went back to Hato Mayor another time and that her mother invited Ricardo over, saying he has a right to see his son. Ricardo is violent with her, pushing her over and then knocking over Fernando when he tries to protect her. Ricardo only leaves when Cara's father threatens him with a baseball bat. Cara says she doesn't think she is a bad mother but regrets how she treated Fernando and wishes she asked him more about himself. She says she has received an eviction notice, the text of which is reprinted at the end of the chapter.
Analysis
Sexuality is a major theme in this section of the book. Cara comes across her young neighbor Sabrina kissing another girl in the stairwell. She does not tell Sabrina's mother, as she doesn't want her to get in trouble. This makes her reflect on her treatment of Fernando and wish she had been more accepting. She says that she knows now that parents must be gentle with their children or risk losing them forever. In this way, Cara reveals how her feelings about sexuality have shifted over time. Where she is initially upset and disturbed by the possibility of Fernando being gay, she later thinks that she should have accepted him for who he is. The loss of Fernando in her life has forced her to reconsider the past and her reevaluation of her beliefs is evidenced in her very different perspective on Sabrina.
Money also appears as a prominent theme in these three chapters. Lissette cuts in at one point, asking Cara if she has been paid for the cooking and childcare she has provided to others. She takes Lulu in when Adonis's family moves in with her and also babysits for Ángela on numerous occasions. Cara waves this suggestion off, saying that she is just being kind and that it is not a big deal. However, Lissette asking her about this indicates that the work she does is not only charitable, but should be compensated and has limited her ability to find work. The book demonstrates the manner in which her generosity is hampering her ability to be paid fairly, suggesting that there are drawbacks to her selflessness, particularly as she faces increasingly dire financial straits.
Violence is a significant theme in this part of the book, as it deals with some of Cara's most painful memories. In particular, she talks about the moment in which she shook Julio and Ángela said she was just like their mother and forbade her from watching her children again. This wounds her deeply, as their mother was vicious and cruel and beat Ángela terribly when they were younger. Taken together, these stories show how violence has a lingering impact on both sisters, as Ángela vehemently defines her parenting in opposition to it, while Cara feels more ambivalent about it. Cara acknowledges that their mother was cruel, but also does not have another model for how to be a good parent. However, she believes firmly that their mother should have defended both of them more, taking particular note of the time when Ricardo visited and she stood by while he physically hurt her and Fernando. In taking stock of this moment, she is able to see more clearly where she erred in her own parenting.
Violence and parenting are also key themes in the climax of the book, when Cara reveals why Fernando left home. She tells Lissette that she threw an iron at him after he yelled at her. She is defensive initially, but it quickly becomes apparent that she is ashamed of what she has done. That moment stays with her as she knows it was exactly where she lost him. As the book frames it, Cara is trapped in the cycle of violence perpetrated by people like her mother and Ricardo, enacting a cruelty similar to theirs, despite being extremely different from them. In contrast to her own mother, however, she is haunted by her treatment of Fernando and wishes she could go back and make other choices, as she loves him and misses him. What this moment ultimately reveals is that she has come to recognize, with complexity, that her narrow views and violent behavior ultimately drove Fernando away. This ties back to the moment with Sabrina, in which she saw that gentleness is such an important part of being a good parent and something that she did not do a good enough job of providing to Fernando when it mattered most.
This section of the book deals with the past, as Cara goes back and reexamines the most painful memories from her life. At the same time, she comes to recognize the decisions she regrets and the things that she has come to view in a new light, like Fernando's sexuality and her mother's shocking cruelty. While these meetings were supposed to be focused on helping Cara find a job, they ultimately end up resembling therapy sessions, as they help process and reevaluate the past.
