More and more relatives arrive, and there is more kissing and hugging. Several girl cousins recite poems, and everybody claps. One uncle takes Miguel aside to show him the little bone spur next to his pinkie. “My sixth finger!” he brags. His aunts gossip, exclaiming over how big Little Linda has gotten. Miguel wonders if dinner will ever be served. It isn’t that he’s hungry, but he wants dinner to be over so that presents will be given out. He has figured out a way to get one more gift from Santa Claus.
“When is dinner, Tía?” he asks the aunt who is Angel’s mother. It turns out to be the most flattering thing he can say. “This boy is a joy to have in the house,” his aunt tells Miguel’s mother. “He’s a good eater. He’s polite. He shakes hands like an Englishman and says, ‘Excuse me’ when he interrupts.” Angel’s mother is looking at Angel as if to say, You should learn from your perfect cousin.
Miguel glances over at his mother, who gives him her you-andT-know-better grin. He grins back.
The plates are cleared away-The uncles push back their chairs and light up their cigars. Then the doorbell rings.
Standing before them is Santa Claus. He looks different from the American Santa Claus—much more slender, his skin soft brown, his eyes dark and lively. But he still wears a white beard and a bright red suit with a thick black belt and shiny boots.
“Santicló! Santicló!” The littlest cousins give a shout and rush forward to make their wishes known.
When it is Ángel’s turn, he unfolds a list from his shirt pocket and begins to read. “Un bate, un guante, una pelota de—”
“That’s enough, Ángel,” his mother calls out. “Remember. Be polite. Ask for only one thing.”
Out of Santa Claus’s bag come the very bat and glove and ball that Miguel picked out for his cousin at the WahMart in Vermont!
When all his cousins have received their gifts, Miguel steps forward. “My turn,” he says.
“Hey, there, my polite and wonderful son,” his mother calls out-“Remember, you and Juanita already got this trip”
Santa Claus looks at him with dark, dancing eyes-“Yes, Miguel-You already got your gift-”
“But I got it in Vermont, and now I’m in the D-R-And my Tía Lola says that here you can ask for a ñapa, a little bit more, after you’ve gotten what you asked for-”
Santa looks thoughtful-“Your aunt has a point-1 do owe you a ñapa, dear boy-”
Miguel is grinning-He has been planning this joke on Santa all evening!
But Santa is taking him quite seriously-“Tell me, then, what is it you want?”
Now that his opportunity has come, Miguel cannot think of what to ask for-He really has plenty of video games, and his worn glove is good enough-The vacation itself is turning out to be fun-The day after tomorrow, they will fly to New York, so he and Juanita can spend the rest of the week with their father and old friends-On New Year’s Eve, they’ll go on a special outing to see all the department store windows Papi decorated for Christmas-
As Santa draws him close, Miguel notices the flash of gold hoops in Santa’s pierced ears! Come to think of it, there is something else he really wants.
“Thank you, Santa, for the great trip,” he begins. “But just one thing. When it’s over, I want Tía Lola to come back home with us-”
Santa winks, “FU see what I can do,”
As Miguel turns to go, Santa catches him by the arm. “You are forgetting something,” Santa reminds MigueL
“Feliz Navidad” Miguel says, “Merry Christmas!” Then he reaches up and plants a kiss right on the beauty mark on Santa’s cheek.
A Word About the Spanish
(Una palabra sobre el español)
In reading about Tía Lola, some of you who know Spanish might wonder if Tía Lola is really speaking Spanish, After all, you know the word in Spanish for a sweater is abrigo, not suéter. You might never have heard of a burén or a aguapa or a potion called guayuyo. Or you might have learned that the correct way to say “my son” is mi hijo, not mi’jo.
First, I want to reassure you that Tía Lola is indeed speaking Spanish. But just as there are many variations in the ways we speak English, people in the Spanish-speaking world have different ways of speaking Spanish-Spaniards are known for lisping their c’s and for priding themselves on their “pure” Spanish, We in the Caribbean swallow our s’s and elide two-word phrases so they sound like one word (mijo for mi hijo). And we borrow English words—for example, “sweater” becomes suéter and “mop” becomes mope. In the Dominican Republic, we have our very own words for certain things. We call kites chichiguas instead of cometas, as they are known in Spain; bananas, guineo; and buses, guaguas.
So if you know Spanish and wonder sometimes about Tía Lola’s Spanish, just remember, she’s got her own special dominicano she’s speaking.
As for those of you who might not know any Spanish at all, I’ve tried always, siempre, to translate each phrase or word right after the Spanish, so that in reading about Tía Lola, you (like Miguel and Juanita) might learn a little bit of Spanish, un poquito de español, from her.
Who knows? Maybe one day, someone who speaks only Spanish will move in next door and paint the house purple and offer you a frío-fríol And you’ll know enough to say, “Sí, muchas gracias^ Or you might visit a Spanish-speaking country and be able to try out the words you learned in this book.
Speaking of gracias, I have a special thank-you to give to my cousin, mi prima, Lyn in the Dominican Republic. Often in writing this book, I had to double-check with her about the Spanish. Although I originally came from the Dominican Republic to the United States, I’ve lived many, many years in English. So every once in a while, I forget how to say a word in Spanish. But I’ve never forgotten how to say thank you to those special people who help me write my books. “!Gracias, Lyn!”
BEFORE WE WERE FREE
by Julia Alvarez
Growing up in the Dominican Republic, Anita de la Torre has never questioned her freedom. But by her twelfth birthday, in I960, most of her relatives have emigrated to the United States, her beloved Tío Toni has disappeared, Papi keeps getting mysterious phone calls about butterflies and someone named Mr. Smith, and the government’s secret police regularly search her house for evidence of her family’s opposition to the country’s terrifying dictator. Even the words Anita writes in her diary about becoming a woman and about a blossoming first love must be erased so that they will not incriminate her family.
As the situation on the island becomes increasingly dangerous and her family is forced into hiding, Anita must struggle to overcome her fears and fly to freedom, leaving behind all that she once knew.
From award-winning author Julia Alvarez comes an unforgettable novel about adolescence, perseverance, and what it means to be free.
Published by Yearling, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books
a division of Random House, Inc, New York
Copyright © 2001 by Julia Alvarez
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law. For information address Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers.
Visit us on the Web! www.randomhouse.com/kids
Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at
www.randomhouse.com/teachers
eISBN: 978-0-307-53118-6
Reprinted by arrangement with Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
August 2002
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