Miriam had no complaints: her daughter fulfilled her duties on time and never stood around idle. In this she was following the example of her grandmother, for whom laziness was the mother of all vices. Evelyn only relaxed when she was with her two siblings and the children at the church, who did not judge her. While her parents attended the service, she minded a group of twenty children in an adjoining room. This saved her from having to listen to the lengthy sermons given by the pastor, a fervent Mexican who succeeded in whipping up the congregation to the point of hysteria. Evelyn invented games to keep the children amused. She sang to them, got them to dance with the aid of a tambourine, and was able to tell them stories without too much of a stutter, provided no adults were around. The pastor suggested she should study to become an elementary school teacher; it was obvious the Lord had given her that talent, and to waste it would be spitting in the face of heaven. He promised to help her get residence papers, but although he had such a powerful influence in celestial affairs, these counted for nothing in the arid offices of the immigration service.
Evelyn’s court hearing would have been postponed indefinitely had it not been for Doreen. For the past few years, Galileo Leon’s daughter had been going downhill until little was left of her former arrogance, and yet her rage was undiminished. She usually turned up covered in bruises that bore witness to her ferocious character: the slightest provocation was an excuse to start a fight. She had a pirate’s scar on her back that was the result of a knife attack. She showed it to the children as a badge of honor, boasting that she had been left for dead, bleeding on the ground among garbage cans in an alleyway. Evelyn only seldom had to face her, because her strategy of flight normally succeeded. If she was on her own with the younger children she would rush them away with her as soon as the dog began to howl. On this particular day however her plan failed, because the two children had scarlet fever. Their illness had begun three days earlier with sore throats, and now they were covered in a rash. It was impossible to force them out of bed on a cold day in early October. Doreen entered kicking the door and threatening to poison the goddamned dog. Evelyn prepared herself for the string of insults that would rain down on her as soon as Doreen found out her father was not in and there was no money in the house.
From the small children’s bedroom Evelyn could not make out what Doreen was up to but could hear her rummaging and cursing impatiently. Fearing her reaction if she did not find what she was looking for, Evelyn plucked up courage and went into the kitchen to intercept her before she burst in on the children. To disguise her intention, she started making a sandwich, but Doreen did not give her time. She charged like a fighting bull and, before Evelyn could even see what was going on, grabbed her by the throat, shaking her with all the strength of an addict. “Where’s the money? Tell me, you retard, or I’ll kill you!” Evelyn struggled helplessly to free herself from her fierce claws. When they heard Doreen shouting, the terrified little ones came running. They burst into tears at the very moment that the dog, who rarely came into the trailer, seized the attacker by the jacket and began to growl and tug at it. Doreen pushed Evelyn away and turned to kick the animal. Evelyn slipped and fell backward, hitting her head on the corner of the kitchen table. Doreen kicked out at her and the dog, but in the midst of her fury she had a flash of lucidity and, realizing what she had done, ran out of the house, still cursing. Drawn by the commotion, a woman neighbor came in to find Evelyn on the floor and the two children weeping inconsolably. She called Miriam, Galileo, and the police, in that order.
Galileo Leon arrived minutes after the police and found -Evelyn trying to stand, helped by a woman in uniform. The world was whirling round. She could hardly see because of black streaks clouding her eyes, and her skull was throbbing so much she found it hard to explain what had happened. However, as they sniveled and sobbed, the younger children kept repeating the name Doreen. Galileo could not prevent them from taking Evelyn to the hospital in an ambulance and the police from writing a report.
In the emergency room they put several stitches in Evelyn’s scalp, kept her in for observation for a few hours, then sent her home with a bottle of analgesics and the recommendation to rest. Unfortunately, because of the police report, that was not the end of the matter. The following day, the police came looking for her, and questioned Evelyn for two hours about her relationship with Doreen. They returned a couple of days later and took her away again, but this time the questions were about her entry into the United States and her reasons for leaving her own country. Terrified and hesitant, Evelyn tried to explain what had happened to her family but made little sense, and so the police officers began to lose patience. In a corner of the room was a man in civilian clothes who took notes but did not open his mouth even to say his name.
Because Doreen had a police record for drugs and other offenses, three policemen came to the trailer with a sniffer dog and searched every corner without finding anything of interest. Since Galileo Leon managed to make himself scarce, Miriam was left to endure the shame of watching the police tear up the linoleum from the floor and rip open her mattresses in search of drugs. Several neighbors gathered to get a good look, and after the police left they stayed around waiting for the second act in the drama. As expected, when Galileo reappeared, his wife launched into a furious tirade. It was all his fault and his whore daughter’s. How many times had she told him she didn’t want to see her in her house? He was a poor good-for-nothing with no backbone and of course no one had the slightest respect for him. On and on she went with her epic litany, which began in the house, continued in the yard and then the street, and ended up in the church, where the couple was escorted by a crowd of witnesses to ask the pastor’s advice. Within a few hours Miriam had run out of steam. Her anger subsided once Galileo timidly promised he would keep his daughter well away from the house.
THAT SAME DAY, at about eight o’clock in the evening, when Miriam was still red in the face from her outburst, there was a knock on the trailer door. It was the man who had been taking notes at the police station. He presented himself as coming from the immigration service. The atmosphere froze, but they could not prevent him from entering. Accustomed to the effect he caused, the official tried to lessen the tension by speaking in Spanish. He said he had been brought up by Mexican grandparents, that he was proud of his origins and navigated easily between the two cultures. They listened to him stupefied, because he was whiter than white, had blue fish eyes, and mercilessly mangled the Spanish language. When he saw that none of them appreciated his attempt to win them over, he came to the real point of his visit. He knew that Miriam and Galileo had residency in the United States, but Evelyn Ortega’s situation was not so clear. He had the detention center file with the date of her arrest at the border, and since she had no birth certificate he concluded she was eighteen and therefore eligible for deportation.
There was a deathly silence while Miriam tried to calculate whether the man had come simply to uphold the law or was fishing for a bribe. All of a sudden the normally reticent Galileo spoke out in a firm voice none of them had heard from him before.
“This girl is a refugee. No one is illegal in this life, we all have the right to live in this world. Money and crime do not respect borders. I ask you, sir, why we human beings should do so?”
“I don’t make the laws. My job is to see that they are followed,” replied the other man, taken aback.