How Tía Lola Learned to Teach (2 page)

“Can she start tomorrow?” Juanita pipes up, her eyes bright and hopeful.

“I don’t see why not. But I’ll need you guys to help me convince her, okay?”

Juanita nods eagerly. Miguel nods as well. After all, it was
his
brilliant idea.…

Juanita gets up early the next morning. She doesn’t even bother to gaze out her window at the back pasture covered with fresh snow. Instead, she hurries downstairs, hoping to talk Tía Lola into coming to school today.

In the kitchen she finds her aunt frying up some plantains and bacon.
“Buenos días,”
Tía Lola sings out cheerfully. “What are you doing up this early?”

“Oh … I just … I wanted to …” For some reason, Juanita finds it hard to explain. Partly, it’s having to talk in Spanish. Only when Miguel is around does Juanita’s Spanish seem to really improve.

Tía Lola winks at her niece.
“No por mucho madrugar amanece más temprano.”

This is one of Tía Lola’s favorite sayings. Something about how waking up early won’t make the sun rise any faster. Tía Lola always quotes this saying when anyone is being too eager a beaver.

“As soon as I’m done with this, I’ll help you get ready,” Tía Lola offers, turning back to her cooking. Usually, she braids Juanita’s hair or finds a missing sock or irons a favorite outfit her niece wants to wear.

It’s now or never, Juanita thinks, taking a deep breath. “Tía Lola, aren’t
you
going to get ready?” Her aunt is dressed in a colorful robe with parrots and bright flowers and a rainbow draped over her right shoulder. She looks like she does every morning, not like someone
who is going to be the volunteer Spanish teacher at school today.

“¿Preparada para qué?”
Tía Lola asks. Ready for what?

“To go to school with us today.”

Tía Lola is shaking her head before Juanita is even done talking. “
Tal vez
maybe another day.”

“She won’t come with us,” Juanita says to Miguel, who has just stepped into the room. “Maybe if you ask her?”

Miguel wasn’t planning on carrying out his brilliant idea just yet. But having his little sister admit that he can do something she can’t makes him want to try.

“Tía Lola, do you know what day it is today?”

Tía Lola scrunches up her face. So does Juanita. Mami has just walked in from brushing the snow off her car. “Today? What’s today?”

“Today is …” Miguel has to think fast. He flashes an SOS look at Juanita.
Help me out!

“Today is a very special, extraordinary, surprising day.” Juanita can’t think of any more adjectives to say about today. She is only in third grade.

“Today …,” Miguel picks up, but he, too, draws a blank. Seven in the morning is not his best time of day to be creative either.

But it is Mami’s. “Oh, that’s right! Now I remember. Today is Bring a Special Person or Object to School Day. Um, right?” Mami looks over at Miguel and Juanita, who are trying desperately not to giggle.

“And Juanita and I picked you to be that special
object—I mean, person.” Miguel grins. He hopes Tía Lola understands he was just joking.

But Tía Lola is not grinning back. Instead, she looks long and hard at Miguel, then at Juanita, finally at Mami. Is this a trick? her eyes are asking. Finally, she slips off her apron and smooths back her hair.
“Buenas razones cautivan los corazones.”

Juanita isn’t sure what Tía Lola has just said. But if they start translating and explaining, Tía Lola will never be on time for the bus. “So are you going to come with us, Tía Lola?”

“¿Hoy sólo?”
Miguel adds. Just for today?

“Solamente hoy,”
Tía Lola corrects him. “You can also say
hoy solamente
.”

She’ll do fine teaching Spanish at Bridgeport, Miguel is thinking. All Tía Lola needs is some confidence.

“Hoy solamente, solamente hoy,”
Juanita practices, showing off her perfect pronunciation. Miguel groans. Here’s one person who doesn’t need more confidence.

“I’ll be right down. Let me quickly get dressed and touch up my face.” Tía Lola hurries upstairs.

Miguel knows what his aunt is about to do. Her beauty mark is about to migrate to a different part of her face. Her outfit will be just as colorful as before, but it will be a dress instead of a robe. Her favorite yellow scarf will be tied around her neck. Inside her flowered carpetbag purse, she’ll be carrying a bottle of lucky water to sprinkle in the classroom. Just as long as she doesn’t walk
down the halls, burning candles and herbs to chase away bad spirits.

Miguel sighs. It is going to be a very long day at Bridgeport Elementary.

“Was it okay to lie to Tía Lola?” Juanita worries out loud. Mami has just called Mrs. Stevens to let her know that Tía Lola will be coming to school today.

Miguel groans. His little sister
would
have to spoil their triumph by wondering if it was okay.

But Mami waves Juanita’s worries away. “It’s a little white lie, that’s all.”

Mami has explained how sometimes you have to tell a harmless untruth to spare someone’s feelings. How it’s okay to say that Mami is not home even though she is upstairs finishing a report due tomorrow and is not to be disturbed. Also, if Papi asks Miguel how he is doing, it’s okay to say “just fine” when really Miguel feels sad that after months of separation, his parents are now divorced. He was hoping that they would change their minds and get back together again.

“You see, we’re actually helping Tía Lola. She really needs to get out of the house.”

“Can’t she get a job?” Miguel suggests. Isn’t that what grown-ups are supposed to do?

“Tía Lola does have a job here, helping take care of
you,” Mami reminds him. In Vermont, there aren’t tons of after-school programs like back in the city, or relatives like their
abuelitos
in Brooklyn, ready to drop everything to come take care of their grandchildren.

“I think we did the right thing.” Mami glances up at the kitchen clock. “You better hurry and call Tía Lola to come down. After all, you don’t want to miss the bus on her first visit to Bridgeport.”

As Juanita and Miguel are hurrying to gather their things together, Miguel remembers something he wanted to ask his mother. “Do you think Tía Lola knows we’ve told her a little white lie about it being a special day at Bridgeport?” After all, if they’re going to have to pretend, they’d better know what they’re in for.

Mami considers for a moment, drying her hands slowly and more thoroughly than usual. “Actually, Tía Lola said something that makes me suspect she knows we have something up our sleeves,” Mami explains. “
Buenas razones cautivan los corazones
. Good intentions win hearts. She realizes we’re all trying to make her feel less lonely, and that has won her over. Even though she’s a little scared, she is willing to go with you to Bridgeport.”

“But only for today, right?” Miguel asks. He doesn’t mind giving in to his good intentions if it’s just for this one time.

lesson two

En el país de los ciegos, el tuerto es rey
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king

On her first day at school, Tía Lola is a huge hit.

Before the bus has pulled into the parking lot, Tía Lola has taught everyone to sing “
Pollito
, chicken;
gallina
, hen,” a catchy rhyme that helps you learn words in English and Spanish. “
Lápiz
, pencil;
pluma
, pen.”

When they arrive, Mrs. Stevens is at the door, shaking hands with each and every student.

Tía Lola has no way of knowing that Mrs. Stevens begins every day this way. She thinks that the principal is giving everyone a special welcome because today is Bring a Special Person or Object to School Day. Tía Lola
has yet to ask Miguel or Juanita why she seems to be the only visitor.

“I’m so glad you agreed to come.” Mrs. Stevens shakes Tía Lola’s hand vigorously. And Tía Lola doesn’t just shake back. She throws her arms around the principal and gives her a great big hug. And Mrs. Stevens, who is very proper, laughs!

“That’s a Spanish hug.
Un abrazo
.” Tía Lola tells Miguel to translate.

“Un abrazo,”
the principal practices. “How do you say ‘Welcome to Bridgeport’?” Mrs. Stevens asks Miguel and Juanita.

“Bienvenida a Bridgeport,”
Tía Lola pipes right up. It’s as if she can understand English once she has become friends.

Mrs. Stevens tries the phrase several times until Tía Lola cries out,
“¡Excelente!”
which sounds enough like “excellent” that Miguel and Juanita don’t have to translate for the principal.

Mrs. Stevens suggests that Tía Lola start by visiting Juanita’s class, and then Miguel’s. That way, their aunt can get acquainted with the schedule and the layout of the school before she is on her own in the other classes.

“This is Tía Lola.” Juanita introduces her aunt to her combined second-and-third-grade class and their teacher, Ms. Sweeney. “
‘Tía’
means ‘aunt’ in Spanish.”
From her seat in the circle of chairs, Ofie nods proudly, like she and Juanita invented Spanish all by themselves.

Milton raises his hand. He always has a question. If someone ran into the room and yelled, “Fire!” Milton would probably raise his hand and ask where the fire was and what could have caused it.

“Milton, do you have a question?” Ms. Sweeney asks nicely, as if there’s ever a question that Milton has a question.

“What are we supposed to call her, since she’s not our aunt?”

Ms. Sweeney turns to Juanita. “Can you ask your aunt what she’d like us to call her?”

Juanita thinks she already knows the answer, but she asks anyway. “My aunt says she wants to be Tía Lola to all my friends,” Juanita translates when Tía Lola answers.

Milton raises his hand.

“Does anyone else have a question?” Ms. Sweeney looks around the room. No one does. She nods at Milton.

“What if we’re not friends with Juanita … yet?” Milton asks.

For a moment, before Milton adds “yet,” a worry line travels across Ms. Sweeney’s forehead. This is only her first year teaching, and so she tries very hard to see that everything goes smoothly, which can make for a bumpy ride. “That’s right, Milton,” she says, relieved. “Everyone at Bridgeport is either a friend or a soon-to-be friend. Tía Lola it will be!” She smiles at Tía Lola, who plants a
big kiss on Ms. Sweeney’s cheek, as if they have been friends forever.