How Tía Lola Came to (Visit) Stay

by Julia Alvarez

  In less than two weeks, over seventy people will be descending on the house.

  “We’ve got to plan Mami’s party, Tía Lola,” Miguel keeps reminding his aunt.

  But Tía Lola seems unfazed. She stands in front of the house, her head cocked, looking at her masterpiece. The painting is finally finished. The house is completely purple with a salmon-pink trim. “Maybe…just maybe,” Tía Lola wonders out loud, “turquoise with hot pink would work better?”

  “About the party,” Miguel tries again, “We’ve got to plan, Tía Lola.”

  “¿Tú sabes lo que dicen de los planes?” Tía Lola says, winking. Does he know what they say about plans? Make them, but be prepared to break them!

  “Yeah, I know,” Miguel agrees, “Like when we invited ten people and now weVe got over seventy,”

  “!Exactamente!” Tía Lola smiles as if she has had nothing to do with it.

  On Saturday morning, while Mami putters downstairs, Tía Lola finally calls a secret planning session in her bedroom. She is wearing her purple Charlie’s Boys baseball cap atop her high moño and carrying a clipboard in her hand as if she were assigning positions to the team.

  “Diez y siete…treinta y ocho.…setenta y cinco,” she counts. Seventeen… thirty-eight… seventy-five. Suddenly, her head jerks up. They have seventy-five guests coming to Mami’s party! They can’t fit that many people in the living room!

  “I was trying to tell you,” Miguel sighs, folding his arms and giving his aunt a pointed look.

  “I know! I know!” Juanita is waving her hand in the air as if she were still in school and had to ask for permission to talk. “Why don’t we have the party in the back field?”

  “!Muy buena idea!” Tía Lola says, checking that item off the list on her clipboard.

  Miguel brings up another problem. “How are we going to cook for so many people? Mami will notice if we start making all this food in the house.”

  “Déjame pensar un momentico” Tía Lola says. She needs to think a moment.

  When Tía Lola thinks, you can see her thinking. Her painted-on eyebrows move slowly toward the center of her face in a thinker’s scowl. And just when you think they’ll run into each other and become one brow, she jumps up and says, “Aha!” and some Great Idea pops out of her mouth.

  This time, nothing pops out of her mouth but a heavy sigh. Nothing pops out of Juanita’s mouth or Miguel’s mouth, either. They can’t figure this problem out.

  The phone rings downstairs. Their mother answers. “Oh, hello, Rudy. Let me get her—Tía Lola!” Mami calls up the stairs.

  Miguel, Juanita, and Tía Lola look at each other and cry out, “Aha!”

  “I think maybe your aunt and Rudy are becoming very fond of each other,” their mother notes to Miguel and Juanita a few days later.

  “Is that so?” Miguel says, trying to look surprised.

  “She’s over there all the time. Maybe Tía Lola will get married after all,” Their mother smiles as if she has planned this all along, “Why not? Poor Rudy’s been widowed for five years. And Tía Lola, bueno, she could do with some good company,”

  Miguel remembers that his mother once told him that Tía Lola is very sensitive about the subject of marriage, “Mami, why didn’t Tía Lola ever get married?”

  A sad, wistful look comes over her face, “Remember how I told you my mother died when I was only three? Well, my mami had a younger sister, Tía Lola, When Mami died, Tía Lola took care of me. Maybe Tía Lola was too busy being my mother to find a husband,”

  This is a surprise to Miguel and Juanita, You can be a mother without really being the mother-You can be a family even if your parents are no longer married.

  At last count, seventy-seven people are coming tomorrow. Miguel and Juanita sorely wish they could add one more person to the list of guests.

  “You have to remember,” the wished-for number seventy-eight reminds them that evening on the phone, “it’s your mother’s birthday, not yours-”

  “But it won’t be the same without you, Papi,” Miguel says, lowering his voice-

  His mother is having a pre-birthday massage in the living room from her friend Stargazer-Stargazer looks like a hippie to Miguel and Juanita with her long, flowered skirts and natural-fiber tunics, her curly hair and dangly earrings-But Stargazer says she is no longer a hippie but an Irish-Armenian-Native-American with her moon in Cancer-You can’t get Stargazer started or you’ll ruin Mami’s massages with too much conversation.

  “I don’t see why you can’t come,” Juanita tells her father-She is on the upstairs extension-

  “I’ll be there,” Papi says-“Really-Just look up, and you’ll see a brush stroke of white in the sky, and that’s me, nearby!’

  “Titanium white?” Juanita guesses in a little voice from her end.

  “Sí, mi amor” Papi says. His voice is as small as hers.

  But to Miguel, Papi’s promise sounds silly. Kid stuff. Like wishing on stars. He is now the captain of a baseball team. He has helped plan a whole surprise party that his mother doesn’t know about. He is too grown-up to believe wishes have their own way of coming true.

  That night, they tell Tía Lola how sad it makes them feel every time there’s a family occasion and their papi—or mami—isn’t there.

  “You don’t ever have to lose anyone you really love,” she tells them, “They stay with you in your heart,”

  That might be so, but it still hurts not to have Papi around.

  To brighten things up, Tía Lola brings up the party tomorrow, “I just invited number seventy-eight today,”

  “Tía Lola!” both Miguel and Juanita cry out.

  “But this could not be avoided,” Tía Lola explains. “El Rudy’s son—”

  “No, Tía Lola!” Miguel and Juanita insist.

  “This son has a business,” Tía Lola continues. “He puts up tents for weddings and parties.”

  Miguel and Juanita are still shaking their heads when they hear the first raindrops falling on the leaves of the locust trees outside the window.

  Early the next morning, Miguel sits up in bed and looks out. The rain is coming down hard as if the leaves all need a good scrubbing before they take on their fall colors. After so much planning, Mami’s party will be ruined! Perhaps Papi’s hand slipped when he tried to paint only one brush stroke in the sky?

  When Miguel goes down to the kitchen, Tía Lola is busy preparing Mami’s birthday breakfast. Juanita stands just inside the door, gazing out at the curtain of rain. Two teardrops join the trillion raindrops falling on the ground.

  “Don’t worry,” Tía Lola reassures them. “Everything will be fine.”

  Just then, their mother enters the room.

  “What is going to be fine?” she asks, looking from one to the other.

  “Your birthday breakfast,” Tía Lola says quickly in Spanish. She sets down a plate of Mami’s favorite, fried onions over mashed plantains, which Rudy speciaLordeied from his distributor in Boston. “Feliz cumpleaños,” she sings. Miguel and Juanita join in.

  “What a wonderful surprise!” their mother cries. Miguel and Juanita look at each other, thinking of the much bigger sorpresa that awaits her.

  “Our special present comes later,” Tía Lola explains, nodding at Miguel and Juanita. They have decided that after the surprise party, they will drive up to their mother’s favorite spot in the Green Mountains.

  “I don’t need another present,” their mother says, blinking back happy tears. “This is already so special!”

  “The only thing is the rain,” Miguel notes. “We ordered a nice day for your birthday.” He tries to sound lighthearted, but he can’t hide his disappointment.

  “I got exactly the day I wanted,” his mother replies. “I love rainy days. I wished for one for my birthday.”

  Miguel and Juanita look at each other, surprised-Then they both glance at Tía Lola, who winks as if she already knew that along with onions and plantains, their mother wanted a rain
y day on her birthday.

  A little while later, Stargazer stops by. She needs Linda’s advice on a display she is setting up in her store for a new line of incense. Behind Mami’s back as they go out the door, Stargazer gives Miguel and Juanita the V for Victory sign. Their plan is working out.

  As soon as they drive away, the house goes into full gear. Plates are set out. Forks and spoons are laid in baskets. Napkins are stacked in leaning towers. Where are the balloons?

  At about ten o’clock, a van pulls in at the purple house on Charlebois Lane. The driver dashes toward the front door in the driving rain. He has a vaguely familiar wide smile and rumpled hair. He wears sneakers and a red bow tie that makes his whole face look like a gift tied with a ribbon. “I got a delivery here for you,” he tells Miguel. “Where do you want it?”

  “Bring it right in,” Miguel says, hurrying away.

  “It’s too big to bring right in,” the man calls after him, but Miguel is already halfway down the hall and doesn’t hear-Soon Rudy will arrive with the tasty pastries and dishes Tía Lola has been cooking over at the restaurant. At noon, the guests will start streaming in. Half an hour later, Stargazer will return with their mother. Miguel and Juanita are hurrying here and there, pushing furniture against the wall to make room. With the rain continuing, they have decided to move the party indoors.

  “We need Tía Lola’s help to move the couch,” Miguel tells Juanita.

  “Tía Lola!” they both call out. “TÍA LOLA!”

  But Tía Lola cannot hear them. She is standing in the back field in the rain, helping the bow-tied man and his three workmen set up the large white tent.

  Looking out from the window at the landing, Juanita sees three white peaks above the maple trees. She calls out to Miguel, “Look, it must be Rudy’s son!”

  They won’t have to cram the party indoors after all! Thank goodness for the seventy-eighth guest, even if that guest has not turned out to be their papi.

  * * *

  Cars are coming down the driveway and driving onto the back field-Neighbors park and step out, squealing, into puddles, carrying gifts and umbrellas. They stand inside the white tent, waiting and visiting with each other-It is the end of the summer-There is talk of what kind of a winter to expect in the months to come.

  Finally, over the sound of the rain, they hear a car approaching-

  “Get ready!” Tía Lola calls out-A sudden silence falls inside the tent.

  Miguel and Juanita look around to make sure everything is in place-Under one of the butterfly piñatas, Rudy and Tía Lola are filling up the last of the purple and pink balloons-Colonel Charlebois, wearing his new purple-and-white-striped baseball uniform instead of his old olive-green army uniform, keeps refilling the popcorn bowl, which Miguel’s team keeps emptying-Their neighbors Tom and Becky are crouched on either side of a lamb wearing a pink bow with a gift tag attached-Juanita’s friends have finished arranging the presents in a pyramid at the center of the tent-At the far end, Reggie is conferring with Mrs. Prouty about which CDs to play on her portable player, Melrose and Petey tie down the last of the tent flaps.

  Have they really made so many friends in just eight months? It seems the whole county has gathered together. How they wish their father were here for this big fiesta.

  Just beyond the tent, the car door opens. Their mother steps out, a look of shock on her face, “Surprise!” everyone shouts. And then Tía Lola and Rudy release their balloons with HAPPY BIRTHDAY written across them in big white letters.

  Looking up, Miguel and Juanita get their own surprise. Above all their heads stretches the canvas tent, like a broad white (titanium!) brush stroke, keeping them dry as their mother’s birthday rain falls steadily outside.

  Chapter Nine

  The Best Place in the World

  As the last guests drive off, the rain stops. The clouds part and become pieces of litter in the sky that the wind sweeps away-The sunset will be glorious.

  Juanita and Miguel, their mother, and Tía Lola pile into the car They pass the last house in town and drive up the winding mountain road. The air grows cooler. Here and there, red leaves glow on the maple trees.

  They sit on an outcrop of rock that overlooks the whole valley. Across the lake and behind the Adirondacks, the sun is setting. The sky fills with splashes of red and gold and purple. It looks like their father’s painting Three Happy Days in Nueva York.

  Then one or two stars begin to show.

  For a moment, this seems the most beautiful place in the world.

  “Thank you,” Migue's mother whispers as if the sunset has been arranged just for her birthday.

  “Muchísimas gracias,” Tía Lola agrees, bowing her head toward the flashing rays, “Thank you very much,” The beauty of the world is an everyday gift. All you need, Tía Lola is always telling them, is to reach out and receive it.

  “Now for your last present,” Tía Lola says to her niece, “Do you remember how when you were a little girl, I would always tell you a special story on your birthday?”

  Miguel and Juanita’s mother nods as if she were that little girl again, “It’s been a long time,” she says, a faraway look in her eyes.

  “A long time,” Tía Lola agrees, “Today I will tell you that same story but in English,”

  “!Ay, qué bueno!” Their mother kisses her aunt, “It’s so important to me, Tía Lola, that you came to Vermont and learned English so you remain connected to us. And so important,” she goes on, kissing Miguel and Juanita, “that you hear Tía Lola’s stories so you can always stay connected to your past”

  “Speaking of the past…,” Tía Lola says, hurrying her story along. The sun is sinking behind the mountains and a chilly wind is coming up.

  The wind blows softly through the darkening trees. The leaves make a sh-sh-sh sound as if they are quieting a noisy crowd.

  You might not believe this, Tía Lola begins, but once all of the world was warm as summer.

  Flowers bloomed and birds sang and the weather was perfect all year round.

  And our little island was no exception.

  “What about Vermont?” Juanita wants to know.

  “And Vermont was no exception,” Tía Lola continues.

  But people, being people, thought that things were better somewhere else.

  Maybe there was more summer farther north? Maybe the sun was brighter down south? Maybe the birds sang prettier songs somewhere else?

  So they set out for other places to see what they were missing.

  Miguel looks up at the starry sky-If I see a falling star…He begins his old magic-wishing game. But it’s no use. Some things, like his parents’ divorce, he just has to learn to accept.

  He wonders if things are better on other planets, other stars. What Tía Lola has said about people is true of him, too. When he is in New York with his father, he misses his mother and new friends. But once he is back again in Vermont, he longs to be with his father and his old friends. It’s hard to know what is home anymore.

  Maybe it would be better to live on some other planet and be some other boy?

  Tía Lola’s voice brings him back down to earth and to her story.

  People were on the move all over Mamá Earth. No place was exactly as wonderful as the people had imagined it would be, so they kept wandering around.

  Some of these people arrived on an island in the middle of a warm blue ocean.

  “This is better than where we were before,” they said, and they decided to stay.

  So was that their home? Juanita wonders. She herself isn’t sure anymore where she is from. Both her mami and her papi came from the Dominican Republic. She was born in New York and lived there all her life until eight months ago, when they moved to Vermont. So is she from Vermont now?

  Back at the house, her dolls are falling asleep in the boxes that Papi has cut and painted into elaborate cradles. Juanita always keeps them in the same place. When Mami or Tía Lola moves them, Juanita gets upset. Her dolls will feel
lost if they wake up and find themselves in a new place, she tries to explain. “Is that the way you feel, amorato!” her mother asks, touching her face softly. Because Juanita’s mother is a psychologist, Juanita has to be careful what she says about her dolls because her mother always thinks she is really talking about herself.

  But this time, her mother is right. Like her dolls, Juanita feels lost when she thinks of all the places she is from.

  Maybe she will never know where she really, really belongs.

  Tía Lola continues with her story, her voice like warm waves of sound lapping against their ears.

  News spread that there was a place where people stayed put.

  That must be the better place, everyone thought, or why would anyone want to stay?

  So everyone started to settle there—everyone— and it was a very little island.

  Soon the island began to complain. “I just cant hold all these people up!” she cried. “Help me, Papá Sky. Help me, Hermano Sun, Hermana Wind, Amigo Cloud.”

  And so Father Sky cleared his throat and thundered. Brother Sun beamed down scorching heat. Friend Cloud sent down torrents of rain. Sister Wind blew on the ocean and drove huge waves toward the shore, which smashed down all the houses.

  As soon as the rains relented and the seas calmed and the sun shone, people began to go back to where they had come from.

  The island was quiet again. The birds began to sing the prettiest songs. The flowers grew bright and tall. It was as peaceful as it had been before the first people got there.

  As she listens to the story, Miguel and Juanita’s mother is growing younger and younger by the minute. She is going back to birthdays past, when she was a little girl in the Dominican Republic and Tía Lola would tell her this story. Little Linda would be so proud of having such a beautiful island as her home, where the birds sang the prettiest songs and the houses were purple and pink and yellow and turquoise blue as if to match the many flowers that bloomed all year round.