We Were Here

This photo depicts a fenced-in area on a beach, similar to those on which Miguel, Mong and Rondell camp during the course of their journey. 

Miguel decides to accept Mong’s offer to escape to Mexico and agrees to bring Rondell on the journey. The pair remain dressed in street clothes after the “lights out” rounds by Jaden and await Mong’s signal to begin the escape. Miguel reflects upon happy memories of his family during better times, including accompanying his brother to the “secret fishing spot along the levee” (67). He also has an epiphany, in which he realizes that he is making a conscious, life-altering decision that might result in his inability to ever return home.

The pair escape through the bars on their windows, which Miguel loosened earlier that day. He doubles back into the house after Rondell exits, at which point he approaches Jaden’s office with the counselor’s keys.

Miguel first observed Jaden locking cash in the petty cash drawer when called into the office for a counselling session. He realized that the counselor only removed the keys from his belt “when he played one of us in foosball” (69).