The Distance Between Us

Two months pass, with Reyna’s mother remaining in Mexico. She tells the children that their father has abandoned all of them; only Mago expects him to return. Reyna has no memory of all the family ever being together, and she remains loyal to her mother and angry at her father, who “had returned to us a different version of my mother, one who was bitter, heartbroken, and weighed down by the knowledge that she had four children to support and was on her own” (78). 

Desperate for income because of the failing value of the peso, Reyna’s mother resorts to selling gum, cigarettes, and snacks to members of a local country club. Reyna and her siblings accompany her to gain sympathy from potential customers. Elizabeth—or Betty—comes down with a fever as a result of being out in the cold; Grandmother Chinta scolds Reyna’s mother for dragging the baby out to seek pity from strangers.  

One evening outside the country club, Reyna learns that her father worked on the construction of the country club and that the club allowed Reyna’s parents to use the pool as a thank you to the laborers. Since Reyna’s mother did not know how to swim, Reyna’s father held her hand, and “not once did he let me go” (82).