The Distance Between Us

Reyna prepares for her first day of school. Happy with her new uniform and excited about school, she hopes, like Mago does, to one day wear the special uniforms of the school flag-bearers. She is proud, too, that she has already learned the alphabet and can write her name when the teacher asks. Immediately, however, the teacher smacks her left hand with his ruler and insists that she use her right hand. Evila, too, tells Reyna that left-handed people are evil. Reyna also reveals that she isn’t fond of her first name. People, especially men, tease her because Reyna is pronounced the same as reina, which means queen, while Grande means big. The meaning of her name, coupled with her sloppy attempt at right-handed penmanship, makes her miserable: “I looked at my name on the notebook. I had never hated it as much as I did at that moment” (51).

Evila has not given them money to buy lunch; when a boy drops a mango on the ground, Mago tells Reyna to retrieve it. She refuses, reminding Mago what Evila has taught them: Food that has touched the ground has been kissed by the devil. As the lunch period ends, Reyna fears returning to class, knowing that the teacher will scold her; however, she is determined to learn how to write so that she can communicate with her parents, asking them to come back to Mexico.