The House of the Scorpion

Matt avoids leaving Celia’s apartment unless María and Celia persuade him to. The servants and the entire family ignore him. Matt doesn’t like seeing Tom, who teases María to tears. One day, Tom follows María to Celia’s apartment and rips the ear off Matt’s teddy bear, pushing Matt to hit him. María calls Tam Lin to break up their fighting. Tam Lin reminds Tom of El Patrón’s warning, and Tom apologizes. However, María and Tom leave because Matt is still angry. Though Tom is courteous around adults, there is something off about everything he does. Tam Lin spends his days reading the newspaper as Celia and María attempt to interest Matt in playing and eating. When Matt develops a cough, the doctor visits. Matt wakes up one night unable to breathe. Tam Lin slaps Matt’s back, clearing his throat. Matt enjoys Celia and María’s panic whenever he coughs, as it makes him feel cared for.

María tells Matt that she has to go to school, reminding him that she doesn’t live there. She reaches out to Matt and tells him that she thinks he can talk if he wants and asks him to say he will miss her. Instead, he shoves her away. When she cries and runs off, Tam Lin tells Matt that he could have been nicer. Tam Lin knows that Matt understands him—Matt takes in everything with his sharp eyes just like El Patrón. He tells Matt that El Patrón has both a good and a bad side, and that because Matt is still young he can choose to be kind now so he can grow into a kind man. Matt is left alone when all the children leave for school. Matt looks at himself in the mirror—he doesn’t look much different than other kids and wonders if he is different on the inside. He remembers the doctor telling Rosa that clones fall into pieces when they get older and wonders if he actually will.

Tam Lin takes Matt to meet his teacher, who goes by the name Teacher, speaks with a cheerful voice, and has an odd smile. She makes Matt copy letters, color pictures, and count objects repeatedly. Though Tam Lin tells Teacher that Matt is an orphan, she keeps telling Matt that his mother will be proud of him. Tam Lin shares that there is something strange about Teacher. However, Celia explains that repetition is how you teach children. The next few days pass with Teacher making Matt repeat the same tasks. When Teacher asks Matt to count apples again, he snaps, saying he isn’t a good boy but a bad clone. When he continues yelling and throwing her supplies around the room, Teacher whimpers like a frightened animal against a wall. Tam Lin bursts in and comforts Teacher, telling her that she fixed something no one else could and that he didn’t know what he was looking at until now. As Tam Lin escorts Teacher out of the apartment, Matt tests out his voice by saying his name aloud and calling himself a good boy. Tam Lin reenters, confirming that Matt can actually talk. He is thankful that Matt is finally speaking—he was fed up with all the counting. When Matt announces that Teacher was an eejit, Tam Lin tells him that he doesn’t know what he means. He decides to take Matt on a picnic to celebrate and explain on the way.

Matt is excited to ride a horse with Tam Lin, just like the bandidos in his favorite cowboy TV shows. He excitedly chatters with Tam Lin about the nature all around him as they ride through the poppy fields toward the hills on the horizon. Matt observes farm laborers for the first time as they slash the pods with knives, which Tam Lin explains is the process to release opium. Matt notices that the workers bend and slash in a hypnotic rhythm without speaking or wiping sweat off their faces. When they come across a man lying on the ground, Matt begs Tam Lin to help him. Tam Lin snaps at Matt and explains that the man died from either heat or dehydration. Matt wonders why the man didn’t return home and why other workers didn’t help him.

When they reach the hills, they stop underneath a cliff. Tam Lin commands the horse to drink water. He explains that it is a Safe Horse, which means it can neither leave the farm nor do any action without being commanded to. Tam Lin leads Matt up the hills, where they climb through a hole in a boulder into a hidden oasis. Tam Lin shares that he brought Matt to the oasis to teach him important things in secret, as he is a clone and doesn’t have parents to teach him. Tam Lin explains that a long time ago, some doctors took a piece of El Patrón’s skin and froze it, and eight years ago it was used to grow a copy of him. This piece of skin was placed inside a cow to allow him to grow until Matt was born. Tam Lin admits that though many people will hate him for being different, there are still people who love him, like Celia and María.

Tam Lin explains that Matt can’t go to school because he is a clone. El Patrón insists that Matt be educated and live a normal life, and since no private teacher would consent to teaching a clone, they had to hire an eejit. Matt is surprised at the word, as he previously thought it was a swear word. Tam Lin explains that an eejit is a person or animal with an implant in its head. Eejits are only able to do simple actions, and they cannot rest or drink water until someone tells them to. Connecting the dots, Matt realizes the dead man was an eejit. Tam Lin admits that the man probably lagged behind other workers and worked himself to death when he didn’t hear the command to stop. Matt covers his ears, not wanting to know any more. Tam Lin and Matt spend the rest of the day exploring the secret valley.

Matt continues his schooling through distance learning. Despite his excellent performance, he feels hollow inside. He knows he is only a “photograph of a human” and isn’t important (84). The eejit dying of thirst in the fields haunts his dreams and causes him to wake up throughout the night unbearably thirsty. María starts to bring her dog, Furball, during her visits. Matt hates that everyone assumes he and the dog are the same, despite Matt’s excellent grades and manners. When María isn’t there, Matt explores the house alone, pretending he is his favorite TV character scouring an enemy fortress. Matt hides and listens to Mr. Alacrán’s wife Felicia fervently playing the piano in the afternoons. Her passionate playing is unlike her usual sluggish self, and she plays until she is exhausted. The servants then bring her a drink and carry her to her apartment.

One day when Felicia doesn’t come to play, Matt approaches the piano and touches its keys. He hears Felicia approaching and runs to hide in a closet. To his surprise, Matt finds a switch that slides open the inner wall to reveal a hidden passageway. Matt flips the switch to close the wall again. After the maids carry Felicia away, Matt escapes back to Celia’s apartment and is scolded for his dusty clothing. Matt thinks his discovery is even better than an episode of his favorite show and is pleased with his new secret. Over the next few weeks, Matt explores the hidden passageway, snaking between the walls of the house. The walls contain peepholes through which Matt sees into empty rooms and closets. When he finds another switch, the door slides open into a closet. On the other side, Matt can hear the doctor and Mr. Alacrán pleading with his father to go for chemotherapy. However, the old man wants to return to God, calling the Big House “a place of shadows and evil” (88).

While listening to Felicia play one day, Matt overhears her complaining to the doctor. The doctor gives her an injection and carriers her away when she falls asleep. Alone in the music room, Matt moves towards the piano and starts to play. He is so enchanted by the music that he decides to come and play when no one else is around. He finds himself able to re-create the songs Celia sings to him with one finger. The ability to play music fills him with so much joy that he forgets he is a clone. Tam Lin finds him one day and tells him not to stop—he admits El Patrón was never musical. Tam Lin decides to ask El Patrón to find Matt a music teacher. Though difficult at first, they finally find a deaf teacher who is able to feel Matt play with his fingers and catch every mistake. Soon enough, Matt excels in his musical ability as in every other subject. He is determined to learn and excel so everyone will love him and forget that he is a clone.