Merci Suárez Changes Gears

On Saturday morning, Merci finds Roli playing Operation with the twins. As she and Lolo prepare to head out to the job site that they previously discussed, Abuela tells Merci to keep an eye on Lolo: “No standing in the sun too long,” she says (136). Merci tells her not to worry as they will be indoors for most of the day. Merci collects her payment from her grandfather. On the way out, Roli’s erratic driving and blasting music from Inés’s car almost leads to a mishap as her father maneuvers his truck out of the driveway. Enrique tells Roli to mind himself, and that he will hurt someone if he continues this way. He tells his son that he will revoke driving privileges if such a thing happens again.

The job site is at the Lake Worth Casino. The property sits next to the beach. In the casino’s ballroom, Merci finds an old wedding favor. It reminds her of Tía Inés’s wedding to Marco—“even though their wedding was in [Merci’s] backyard” (142). Marco and Inés have since divorced: “He stopped loving me” is Tía Inés’s explanation, and Merci wonders if the problem was that Marco “maybe loved” Tía Inés (142).