“Sabrina, do you want something from the cooler?”
“No thanks.”
Jessica turned to go through the door then and stepped directly into someone else. “Oh, my gosh! Excuse me!”
She untangled herself from the stranger’s arms and stood clear on the patio, then saw that the stranger was a man. A good-looking man, with brown skin and black hair.
“Jessica,” said David, who was trying not to laugh, “I was looking for you so I could introduce you to my friend, but it looks like you already met him. This is Raj Kumar. He loves the web site you made me, and I told him you’d build a site for his business, so I can get the commission. Raj, this is my sister-in-law, Jessica Luna.”
Jessica and Raj shook hands. She mumbled a greeting, and he murmured apologies, but they were drowned out by the message communicated with their eyes. It said: Hello, mutual attraction.
56
Some days later, the neon hand shone brightly at her as Jessica walked through the doorway of Madame Hortensia’s.
“How are you, m’ija?”
“I can’t complain.”
“How’s your new job going?” Madame Hortensia asked as she picked up her box of fortune-telling supplies.
“Really good. They’ve been keeping me pretty busy.”
“And your love life? Any new men in the picture?”
“Oh, there are men in the picture all right.” Jessica gave the old woman a sly wink. “I’m weighing my options.”
They took their seats, opened Madame Hortensia’s laptop, and got down to business.
“So, what did you think?” asked Jessica. “Did you like that font?”
MADAME HORTENSIA, PSYCHIC AND NOTARY PUBLIC, read the title of the web site Jessica had made.
“Yes. The font looks good, m’ija, but I don’t like the picture. I meant for it to look mysterious, but instead, it just looks mean. And I have a double chin in it. I think we should take another one.”
“Okay. We can definitely fix that,” said Jessica. She couldn’t resist adding, “As soon as you figure out what you want, I’ll work my magic to make sure you get it.”
Madame Hortensia laughed. “Ándale, m’ija. There you go.”
Toby-licious!
A mix CD for Toby, by J. Lu.
10/23/05
Hey, sweetie. Here’s the song list I promised you. Just fold it up and put it in the CD case. Hope you like it — don’t blow out your speakers again!
— Jessica
1. M.I.A. — “Bucky Done Gun”
Raj turned me on to this one. The singer, Mya, is from Sri Lanka.
2. Felix da Housecat — “Watching the Cars Go”
Good beat! From Sasha’s Involver mix.
3. Tito Puente — “Que Será Mi China”
Off my dad’s vinyl collection. . . . Somebody needs to remix this! You should tell your friend Michelangelo.
4. Michelle Branch — “Breathe” (The Passengerz Tuff Club)
Awesome remix. Nothing like the original.
5. Gotan Project — “Santa Maria” (Tom Middleton’s Cosmos Mix)
This reminds me — we should totally take a tango class together.
6. Bebel Gilberto — “Aganjú” (Latin Project Remix)
Very mellow, Brazilian style. You’ll never guess who gave me this CD. Xavier!
7. Sneaker Pimps — “Spin Spin Sugar” (Armands Dark Garage Mix)
Here’s that one you wanted.
8. Metle Music — “El Mar”
More lounge-y stuff. I must be getting older.
9. Vanity 6 — “Nasty Girl”
I found this on an old cassette and had to download the MP3. Remember our eighth-grade dance?
10. Blue 6 — “Very Good Friends”
Very romantic. Maybe you should play this for your new friend David?
Acknowledgments
This book took me a long time to situate, so to speak, so I’ve racked up a lot of people to thank. First: Jenny Bent, who is not only everything a girl could want in an agent, but also cracks me up, talks me down, and keeps me from throwing my writing career off a fifty-story building. Thanks to Jenny and Victoria Horn and everybody at Trident for handling all these pieces of paper so beautifully.
Second: Thanks very, very much to Selina McLemore, who is more than an editor. She’s actually a supernatural being who goes inside my brain, sees what I’m trying to say, and makes me say it better. Thanks also to Latoya Smith, Sona Vogel, and the rest of the Grand Central team.
Third on this page but first in chronology: Thanks to everyone who either read this book, read some prototype of this book, or listened to me whine while writing it. That includes Brie McCain, Yvonne Esch, Tiffany Songvilay, Andie Avila, Enrique Gomez, Ashley MacLean, Catherine Poua, and my dad, Enrique Zepeda.
More retroactively still, thanks to Nick Kanellos and Marina Tristán for setting me on this career path.
I’m grateful to Dat Lam, who was my boyfriend when I started this book and my fiancé when I finished it, for his seemingly inexhaustible reserves of support.
Finally, thanks most of all to Jacob, Austin, and Luke for their patience and their tolerance of deadline-time microwaveable meals, and for inspiring everything good that I manage to do.
Reading Group Guide
1. At the beginning of her story, Jessica is “dating” Guillermo. She hides their relationship from her family and doesn’t seem quite comfortable with it herself. Why does Jessica get involved with Guillermo and continue to see him, despite her own misgivings? Is it just the hot sex, or is she getting something else out of it?
2. Jessica talks about feeling more comfortable dating men who grew up the way she did — knowing how it feels to eat beans and rice for dinner or to have the electricity cut off once in a while. Do you think relationships are easier when the people involved have similar backgrounds? Are there challenges to overcome when dating people from different economic classes or different cultures?
3. When Jonathan first shows a romantic interest in Jessica, she worries that he is attracted to her only because she is Latina and therefore “exotic.” Should that be a concern? Is there anything wrong with being attracted to people of a certain culture? How is that different from preferring blondes or brunettes, or tall men, or men with hairy chests?
4. Jessica’s job at McCormick is completely unrelated to the career she’d hoped to have. At the end of the book, she leaves that job for one that pays less but suits her better. Was she foolish to leave McCormick instead of trying harder for a promotion? Is finding your dream job something that happens only in books or movies?
5. Jessica is very superstitious. She begins to believe in fortune-telling at a low point in her life. Was her superstition a product of her upbringing or an excuse to avoid making tough life decisions? Or both?
6. How does Jessica’s relationship with her parents affect her decisions? How does it affect her relationship with her sister, Sabrina?
7. How does Jessica’s relationship with Sabrina affect her decisions? How does Jessica feel about the choices Sabrina has made in life? Is she jealous? Disappointed?
8. Madame Hortensia makes money every time Jessica needs help making decisions about her life. Why, then, does the fortune-teller eventually admit that she doesn’t have any psychic powers? What do you think about what Madame Hortensia does for a living? Is it dishonest? Is it wrong?
9. In the end, Jessica decides that she and Jonathan don’t belong together. Why? Do you think her decision was based on cultural differences, and if so, was it wrong of her to base it on that? What assumptions does she make about Jonathan? Does she end up changing her mind?
10. Did you expect Jessica to end up with Xavier in the end? Were you disappointed when she didn’t?
11. How did Jessica change from the beginning of this story to the end? What did she learn? Did you learn anything from her experience, or were her lessons things you already knew? Do you know anyone who might benefit from shari
ng Jessica’s experiences?
Questions for the Author
1. What gave you the idea for this book?
I was in a friend’s office, telling him I couldn’t decide what to write next. He had a Magic 8-Ball on his shelf. I took it and asked, “Should I try to write a novel?” It said the answer was unclear. I was annoyed and wished I knew a real psychic who could tell me for certain what to do. Then the idea came to me: What if someone based all her decisions on fortune-telling, signs, and superstition?
2. Are you Jessica Luna? How similar is your life to hers?
I’m not Jessica. There are a few similarities. I grew up in Houston, I work in insurance, I’ve worked for nonprofits, and I’m sometimes superstitious. Like everyone else, I’ve had doubts about the direction my life is going. But besides that, we’re pretty different. I’m older than her. My mom’s white, and I grew up with my dad and his family. I have two younger brothers, no sisters. I’ve been married, and I have three sons. I’ve been dating the same guy for five years now. Most strikingly, Jessica has way more time to go out drinking and dancing than I do.
3. Jessica and her friends go to a lot of restaurants and clubs in Houston. Are those places real or fictional?
They’re fictional and yet similar to places I know and love. Come visit Houston. Walk through the Montrose and see it for yourself.
4. Have you ever met a fortune-teller like Madame Hortensia?
No. I’ve been to fortune-tellers who weren’t worth the money. I’ve been to one who told me I’d have three boys and one girl, which was pretty eerie. When I was a teenager, I used to listen to a tarot card hobbyist who worked at my friend’s parents’ convenience store and gave long, involved readings in Spanish to the same few women, every single day. Also, both my parents used to read tarot cards. But that’s it. No one like Madame Hortensia. She’s a composite of shrewd women I’ve met, done up with velvet and a crystal ball.
5. What was your writing process for this book?
I started with an outline — a synopsis, actually. As so often happens, I began writing the book according to my outline, and then the story took on a life of its own, and the outline didn’t make sense to me anymore. So I abandoned it and just wrote. Then I ended up using a Microsoft Works calendar to map out the timeline and plot events. That was a really valuable tool, and now I use calendars for all my books.
6. With three kids and a day job, how do you find time to write?
I always tell people it’s easy to find time to write, as long as you never watch TV and never clean your house. When I’m working on a project, I try to spend an hour or two per day writing, either in the evenings while the kids are doing their homework or early in the mornings before they wake up. Weekend mornings are the most productive time for me.
When I have a deadline, I take my laptop with me to work and write during my lunch hour. I usually spend all my vacation time and holidays writing my brains out. Luckily, my kids are finally at the age where they understand what I’m doing and why, so they give me the time I need, with minimal arguing and video-game noise.
7. What do you do when you aren’t writing, working, or being a mom?
I hang out with my kids and my boyfriend, mostly. We eat out, shop, go to movies, and walk at parks. We paint pictures and do various crafts. On occasion, I go to clubs with my friends to see DJs play. Sometimes I play video games, badly, and sometimes we do watch TV. My boyfriend likes to cook, and I really like to eat the results.
8. Who are your favorite authors?
My taste is all over the place. Jane Austen, Nabokov, Alice Munro, Margaret Atwood, and Sandra Cisneros are the authors I read again and again. I was raised on seventies science fiction, crime thrillers, and Regency romance. I read way more young adult fiction than an adult should and love Peter Pan and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to death. New authors I like lately: A. M. Homes and George Saunders.
9. What advice would you give to someone who wants to write for a living?
Don’t talk about wanting to be a writer. Just write. When you talk about it instead of doing it, you set up expectations that become intimidating when you finally do try to write. When you tell your ideas to people, it takes the creative urgency out of writing them down.
I know people who talked about wanting to be writers for years and years and then finally sat down to write novels and realized that they didn’t enjoy the process at all. And I didn’t blame them — writing is really hard, boring work. Also, it doesn’t pay much, when you break it down to dollars per hour. So if you want to “write for a living,” I’d suggest that you find someone willing to support you. People who really want to write usually start out doing it for free, because they can’t help themselves.
Guía de Lector
1. Al pricipio de la novela, Jessica sale con Guillermo. Esconde su relación de su familia, y no parece que ella está cómoda con su relación tampoco. ¿Por qué se compromete Jessica con Guillermo, a pesar de sus presentimientos? ¿Es solo por el sexo caliente, or hay más que Jessica está recibiendo de la relación?
2. Jessica habla de sentirse más cómoda saliendo con hombres que crecieron como ella; los que saben como es cenar arroz y frijoles, y a veces no tener la electricidad. ¿Piensa Usted que las relaciones son más fáciles cuando las personas conprometidos tienen fondos semejantes? ¿Cuáles son los desafíos que se tiene que vencer cuando una persona tiene una relación con alguien de una clase economica diferente o una cultura diferente?
3. Al principio, cuando Jonathan muestra un intrés romantico en Jessica, ella se preocupa que Jonathan está atraido a ella solo porque es Latina, y por eso, “exotica.” ¿Debe ser un asunto? ¿Hay algo injusto en estar atraido a las personas de una cultura específica? ¿Comó es different de preferer una rubia o una morena, hombres altos o hombres con pechos peludos?
4. El trabajo de Jessica en McCormick no tiene nada que ver con la profesión que espera tener. Al fin del libro, deja ese trabajo por uno que paga menos pero le gusta mejor. ¿Fue tonto dejar su trabajo en vez de luchar por un ascenso? ¿Es possible encontrar el trabajo de los sueños, o ocurre ésto solo en los libros y las películas?
5. Jessica es muy supersticiosa. Empieza a creer en las advinas en un momento de depresion. ¿Cree Usted que su superstición es un producto de su crianza, o una disculpa para evitar hacer las decisiones de vida dificiles? ¿O sea posible los dos?
6. La relación de Jessica con sus padres, ¿comó afecta las decisions de Jessica? ¿Y comó afecta la relación con su hermana, Sabrina?
7. La relación de Jessica con Sabrina, ¿comó afecta las decisiones de Jessica? ¿Comó se siente Jessica sobre las eleciones que Sabrina ha escojido en su vida? ¿Está celosa Jessica? ¿Decepcionada?
8. Madame Hortensia gana dinero cada vez que Jessica necesita ayuda hacer una desicisión. ¿Entonces, por qué admite la advina que no es psíquica? ¿Qué piensa Usted de como se gana la vida Madame Hortensia? ¿Es fraudulento? ¿Inmoral?
9. Al final, Jessica decide que ella y Jonathan no deben estar juntos. ¿Por qué? ¿Cree Usted que su decisión está fundada en sus diferencias culturales y, de ser así, es justo basarlo en ésto? ¿Qué supone Jessica sobre Jonathan? ¿Cambia su opinion?
10. ¿Cree Usted que Jessica se queda con Xavier al fin del libro? ¿Está desilucionada cuando ésto no pasa?
11. ¿Comó cambia Jessica desde al principio del cuento hasta al fin? ¿Qué aprendío Jessica? ¿Aprendío Usted algo de la experiencia ed Jessica, o ya sabía todas las lecciones? ¿Conoce Usted a alguien que podría beneficiar en compartir las experiencias de Jessica?
Una Entrevista con Gwendolyn Zepeda
1. ¿De dónde vino la idea de este libro?
Estaba en la oficina de un amigo, deciéndole que no podía decider que más escribir. Tenía un Magic 8-Ball en su estante. La cogí y pregunté, “¿Debo escribir una novela?” Me respondió que la respuesta no estaba clara. Me molestó y deseé que conociera un psíquico quien me pudiera decir que hacer. De repente la idea m
e chocó: ¿Qué pasaria si una persona quien hiciera todas sus decisiones basadas en la superstición?
2. ¿Eres Jessica Luna? ¿Comó son semejantes la vida de Jessica con la tuya?
No soy Jessica Luna. Hay algunas semejanzas, pero no muchas. Crecí en Houston, trabajo en seguro, he trabajado por empresas sin fin lucrativo, y a veces soy supersticiosa. Y, como todos, he tenido dudas sobre la dirección de mi vida. Pero, aparte de éso, somos muy diferentes. Soy mayor que Jessica. Mi madre es blanca, y crecí con mi padre y su familia. Tengo dos hermanitos, pero no tengo hermana. Estuve casada y tengo tres hijos. Por cinco años salgo con el mismo hombre. Sobre todo, Jessica tiene mucho más tiempo para ir a bailar y beber que yo.
3. Jessica y sus amigas van a muchos restaurants y clubs en Houston. ¿Estos son sitios verdaderos o ficticios?
Son ficticios pero semejantes a lugares que conozco y me gustan. Ven a Houston, pasa por el Montrose y vételo por tí mismo.
4. ¿Has conocido a una adivina como Madame Hortensia?
No. He visitado algunas adivinas quien no valen el dinero. Y fui a una quien me dijo que tendría tres hijos y una hija. Ésto fue muy espantoso. Cuando joven, escuchaba a una mujer que leia las tarjetas de tarot. Ella trabajaba en la tienda de los padres de mi amiga, y daba lecturas detalladas a las mismas mujeres cada día. Y mis padres leían las tarjetas de tarot también. Pero es todo. Nadie como Madame Hotensia. Ella es una compuesta de mujeres astutas que he conocido, con terciopelo y un globo de cristal.
5. ¿Cómo escribiste este libro? ¿Tienes un proceso especial?
Empecé con un esbozo, una sinopsis. Como siempre, empecé a escribir el libro según la sinopsis, pero entonces el libro tomó una vida de si misma, y la sinopsis ya no tenía sentido. Pues, la abandoné y escribí libremente. Al fin usé un calendarío de Microsoft Works para proyectar el argumento. Éso fue una herramienta inestimable, y ahorra siempre uso calendarios para todos mis libros.
Houston, We Have a Problema Page 30