The Distance Between Us

Grande flashes forward to 2010; by now Reyna has been in America for 25 years, and her father has been diagnosed with liver cancer. Although she and her siblings have had little contact with him, they gather at his bedside: “[A]s is often the case with terminal illnesses, broken families put themselves back together” (163). Betty is not in attendance, and Reyna explains that her mother was right not to have let Betty join them in crossing the border.

The doctor awaits their decision to take him off of life support. They heed the doctor’s advice; he tells them that their father won’t suffer. As her father gradually dies, Reyna reaches for his hand, “the hand that was the exact shape as my own, and I held on tight” (164).

Now in America, Reyna and her siblings have to adjust to a new life and prepare for school. Their father warns them not to tell anyone that they are illegal; furthermore, he tells them that if they slip up at school, he will send them back to live with Grandmother Evila in Mexico.

Reyna notes the culture shock; they live in a small apartment in northeast Los Angeles. Although Reyna’s father and Mila own the complex, the family uses a one-bedroom apartment.