The Tequila Worm

Sofia decides she will earn the $400 needed for tuition by getting a job. She leaves one morning on the weekend with high hopes, but application after application leaves her realizing she has no experience doing anything and believes that not one of the jobs she applied for would call her back.

She drags herself toward home but then, while crossing a street, she notices the two packing sheds that are four blocks from her house. It is summer, and the packing sheds are open and busy during the summer picking months. Sofia walks inside one, and the first thing she notices is how well-dressed the workers are. The women wear nice dresses and high heels. Sofia wonders how they could stand all day in shoes like that. A man approaches Sophia and asks her if she wants a job. She says yes, and he puts her to work right away sorting cucumbers.

Sofia, at first, is not fast enough and is even threatened with getting fired. During a 10-minute break, she calls home and tells her papa what she’s doing. He is shocked. He says, “Ay mi’ja that’s really hard work” (107). He wants her to come home, but she’s determined to stay and work so she can earn the money for her portion of the tuition. She works very late hours. One night, her papa picks her up from work at midnight. She begins to dream about cucumbers, and by day, she is so tired she makes silly mistakes like putting her papa’s hair gel on her toothbrush and placing the coffee pot in the fridge.

She is still curious about why the women are so dressed up. Sofia would never dress like that to sort cucumbers. It’s a messy job, and she would not be able to stand even five minutes on high heels. One day, a man approaches Sofia and tells her she is pretty. Then, he asks Sofia if she would be interested in marrying him. She is shocked. He tells her he is proposing now because after the season ends, he will have to go back to Mexico, and he might never see her again. Sofia finally understands why the women dress up so nicely; in order to get married. Sofia is not like that. She realizes she “needed—not just wanted—more than this” (110); she wants more than working at a packing plant and finding security through a man.

When Sofia gets home that night, her mama tries to feed her, but Sofia is not hungry. She tells her mama about the marriage proposal. Her mama is worried, but more than that she is bewildered by the way traditions, especially romance, are changing: “Young people used to meet in plazas, at dances, at church, under the safe eye of the community” (110). Now, the plazas are disappearing. She tells Sofia that even the plaza at the hotel where she met her papa is going to be gone. They are turning it into a swimming pool. 

The hottest days of summer are upon Sofia and her community. Her mama calls it the canicula (dog days). Sofia doesn’t know what that means. Her mama explains it’s a time period in the summer, from July 14 through August 24 when the hottest days arrive and make people do crazy things. Her mama, for instance, can’t find the key to the chest that holds some secret items for Sofia. Or she buys the wrong bread. All sorts of chaos, mayhem, and confusion take place during the canicula.

Sofia and Berta drive around in Berta’s air-conditioned car trying to stay cool. Lucy joins them, and this is the first time that Lucy asks if she can be Sofia’s and Berta’s comadre. Sofia shows her little sister how to steer the steering wheel as she drives. It’s a small thing, but it means the world to Lucy. The three of them agree that they will be each other’s comadres.

One the day of Sofia’s 15th birthday, her mama makes a festive fajita dinner, and Lucy brings out a beautiful chocolate cake that she and Berta baked for Sofia. After the cake, Lucy pulls a carton of eggs out of the refrigerator. The carton is filled with cascarones. First, Sofia opens the one that Berta made. Inside is a miniature picture of Sofia and her mama dancing at Berta’s quinceañera. The one from her mama contains a green glow-in-the dark rosary. The one her papa gave her contains a small wooden saint that he carved himself; it is Saint Sofia. The one from Lucy contains eight quarters. It’s Lucy’s entire savings. She says it’s for buying candy at school, and Sofia feels like she might cry. After they finish opening the cascarones, Papa hands Sofia her guitar, and she plays Julia while her parents waltz. At the end of the night, after Berta has gone home and Sofia’s mama and Lucy are praying the rosary in another room, Papa gives Sofia a secret cascarone. He tells her it’s for her to open whenever she wants. He tells her she will know when that day is and reminds her that the small wooden Saint Sofia will always be with her. 

It is time for Sofia to say goodbye to everyone. Papa gives Sofia his favorite book, Don Quixote, and Sofia’s mama gives her a huge bag of homemade empanadas and a box of Ibarra Mexican chocolate. She also gives Sofia a box of items for her homemade altar. Berta and Sofia secretly laugh. The thought embarrasses both of them that Sophia would put up an alter in front of the rich people. Before she leaves, Sofia goes through her drawers and gives Lucy a handful of treasures, including a mariachi puppet and tiny worry dolls. The next day, they all climb into Berta’s car and drive the 300-plus miles to Austin. The closer they get to the new school, the sicker Sofia feels. She is not able to eat anything, but she tries to seem happy and nonchalant.

When they arrive, Sofia sees people driving up in very expensive cars. She starts to feel self-conscious. Once in the dormitory, Sofia finds her room. Her papa comments on how sparse it is. “Your dorm reminds me of my army barracks” (129). There is no TV and no kitchen. There is no panaderia, (bakery) no raspa (icie) stand, and no Wal-Mart. The doors to her room swing open and closed like the doors in a cantina.

Sofia is inside her room for a few minutes when a girl comes in asking her if she’s seen someone named Brooke. Sofia knows Brooke is supposed to be her roommate. The girl says her name is Terry, and she wants Sofia to switch rooms with her so she can bunk with Brooke. After Terry leaves, Sofia’s mama comments on how rude she is. Everyone is getting nervous, but Sofia tries to laugh it all off. When Brook arrives, and Terry asks her to let Sofia switch, Brooke says no. She wants to stay with Sofia. Unlike Terry, Brook at least has manners, and she introduces her parents to Sofia’s parents.

Brooke has already unpacked some things; a Chagall print that she has hung on the wall on her side of the room, a vase, and a Persian rug. When Sofia unpacks, her mama unpacks the box she told Sofia was for her soul. She pulls out several items that she says Sofia can use to make her altar. There is a statue of Jesus, bleeding on the cross, one of the Virgin of Guadalupe that lights up, a glow-in-the-dark rosary, a framed print of the Guardian Angel, and a black Saint Martin de Porres. Sofia is so embarrassed, and Berta is biting her lip to keep from laughing. But when Brooke walks in, she is surprised and inviting, asking Sofia if all the items are for her home altar. Sofia is surprised that Brooke knows about home altars, and Brooke tells her she knows about home altars because her parents run a foundation in Latin America.

Sofia’s family gather on the lawn to say their goodbyes. Sofia’s mother tells her to make sure that she shares her empanadas with Brooke: “She’s too skinny and pale” (134). They chatter and laugh at each other’s nervous jokes, then they climb into the car. Sofia watches her father get in and feels like she’s really alone. She waves until the car disappears, and she wonders if now is the time to open the cascarone he gave her. She decides not to, but she pulls out the wooden Saint Sofia where she’s been keeping it in the front pocket of her shirt. She remembers what her father said after Halloween when she complained about her side of town because of the bad candy: “…our side of town has its own wealth and warmth” (135). She realizes she finally understands what he means. She climbs the stairs to her dorm room and wonders if this strange mundo (world) will not just teach her about the other side of town, but also help her understand her side of town, too.