Efrén Divided

Efrén arrives at school early the next morning. He plans to find David and patch things up between them. When he gets there, however, a boy named Abraham tells him David already won the election because Jennifer left the school. Immediately concerned, Efrén finds Jennifer’s friend Han Pham, who confirms that Jennifer is gone. She refused to leave her mother’s side when a sweep for undocumented immigrants took place at a market where she and her mother were shopping: “She had to go to Mexico with her mom…or social services was going to take her” (141). Han broaches the idea of running in Jennifer’s place to honor her passion for change, but Han is too shy for public speaking. Han brings up Jennifer’s saying about seeds, and Efrén recalls it too: “They tried to bury us…but they didn’t know we were seeds” (142). Efrén cannot stop thinking about this idea once he recalls it.

In math, he searches for online information about detention centers. He is appalled to see children in cages and sleeping on floors. Recalling Jennifer’s comparison, he also searches for information on chicken farms, and sees some chickens running freely in yards. He realizes if he had gone to Mexico instead of Jennifer, she would be fighting to win the election in an effort to bring about at least small changes. Efrén goes to Mrs. Salas’s room before leaving the building that day, now intending to run for president himself. At the laundromat after school, David catches up with Efrén as Efrén folds clothes. Efrén tells him about his decision to run. David is angry and tells Efrén he no longer needs him for a friend.

At home that night, Apá is happy. He joined a cundina—a group of fellow workers who pool money every week in case someone must borrow it. He borrowed enough to pay for a coyote to get Amá home. Efrén goes to school early again to work on his campaign posters. He and David wordlessly work on posters together before classes and during break. Efrén tries to tell David the truth about Amá since her deportation is at the heart of his decision to run, but he becomes too emotional and runs off. Efrén tells the twins that night that he must make posters, and the twins offer to help. Mia’s contribution is “Vote for Efrén, BEST BIG BRUTHER!” and Max’s is “VOT FOAR EFRÉN I LUV HIM” (157). Efrén does not know what he will do with those posters, but he tells the twins they are the “most amazing posters” he ever saw (157).

Efrén takes the twins with him Friday evening to the school. He wants to hang his posters, as David’s are already up. Max and Mia hang the posters they made in very conspicuous places. Efrén sees Mr. Garrett trying on a George Washington costume in preparation for a unit on the Constitution. The teacher asks Efrén if his mother is home yet, and Efrén says she will be soon. Amá calls that night, and after they talk to her, Efrén thinks again how she will soon be home: “And there was no way Efrén was going to let things go back to normal. No way was he going to hide out in the bathroom reading while Amá cooked and cleaned for everyone” (163).

Apá tells Efrén that night that he plans to travel the next day to San Diego where a fence near a state park is the place he will “try and sneak the money to her” (164) for her attempt at crossing the border. (With Amá having no identification, he cannot wire it.) Efrén senses the danger for Apá, then becomes sure of it when Apá gives him the name and number of a cousin in Arizona whom Efrén is to call if something happens to Apá. Efrén then convinces Apá to let him help. As a citizen of the US, Efrén can legally cross the border into Tijuana and meet Amá there. Apá eventually agrees and says he will make arrangements with Amá.

Early Saturday morning, Efrén and Apá drop off the twins at a sitter and travel the two hours to San Diego. The San Clemente checkpoint is closed, but Apá tells him, “The Border Patrol opens it randomly to catch people coming up from the border” (169). At the border, Apá and Efrén review the plan. Efrén is to go through the station, take a taxi to the Arco on Avenida Revolución, and Amá will meet him at the Taco Loco nearby. Apá will wait for Efrén to return. The taxicab drivers look rough, and Efrén is nervous. One asks in English if he needs a ride. The driver introduces himself as Eduardo but says his nickname is Lalo. At first, Lalo says the Arco area is too dangerous for Efrén to go to alone, but Efrén explains his mission, and Lalo agrees to take him.

Lalo was deported after 28 years in the US and left his baby daughter behind to grow up there. Lalo tells Efrén that Tijuana “is limbo, man. A place not quite Mexico, not quite the US. La Tierre de los Olvidados—the Land of the Forgotten” (176). Efrén tells Lalo he has to use the bathroom. Lalo drops him near a McDonald’s and gives directions to the Arco from there.