The Bean Trees

As they drive through New Mexico, Taylor, Estevan, and Esperanza are stopped by immigration. Estevan and Esperanza have dressed in their most American clothing, and Taylor tells the officer that they’re her brother and sister-in-law. When the officer asks about Turtle, Taylor hesitates, and Estevan claims that the baby is his and Esperanza’s. After they pass the checkpoint, he apologizes, telling Taylor that he only said that to avoid suspicion after she paused.

They reach Texas Canyon again and see the comical boulders that initially attracted Taylor to the southwest. As they drive, Estevan reveals that he and Esperanza are technically Maya people and that Spanish isn’t their first language. They’re from different Indigenous tribes in Guatemala, which are often forced to move and oppressed by the government. Taylor reflects on how Indigenous peoples have been historically mistreated, at least since the arrival of Columbus, and asserts that calling a person “illegal” is absurd and meaningless. Esperanza plays with Turtle and sings her a song in one of the Mayan languages she knows.

When they reach Oklahoma, Taylor offers to drop off Estevan and Esperanza at the sanctuary church first, but they offer to accompany her and provide moral support on her quest to find Turtle’s family.