Return to Sender (19 page)

The next day, Mari and her sisters are not at school. As he sits in class, Tyler worries that he'll get home and find them gone. The heaviness in his heart surprises him. It's the same feeling as when Gramps died, compounded by the fact that this is a whole family, and it's not heaven they're going to if they get deported.

After school, as he gets off the bus at Mr. Rossetti's, Tyler's surprised to see his grandmother's car in the driveway. Just inside the back door, Tyler finds Mr. Rossetti and Grandma sitting at the kitchen table. His grandmother has her checkbook open like when she's home paying bills.

Mr. Rossetti is as agitated as he was on town meeting night. There's a kink in his eyebrow and a frown on his forehead. “I disapprove wholeheartedly, Elsie, and I'm not going to be a part of it!”

“Who asked you to agree to anything, Joseph? You're just lending me the money, okay? Let's see … I'll need—”

“But I know what you're aiming to do with it.” Mr. Rossetti's
voice sounds trembly and truly torn apart. “Sit down, son,” he says to Tyler. “Your grandmother here's being un-reasonable.”

“Unreasonable?!” Grandma puts a hand on her hip. “Wouldn't you move heaven and earth to get back someone you love?”

“Elsie, you haven't changed a bit since you were young! Always a dreamer.” Mr. Rossetti is shaking his head at her. “And I'm still trying to move heaven and earth to get you to notice me!”

Grandma's face softens with surprise. She sets her pen down and tucks a stray gray curl behind her ear. “Joseph Rossetti. I had no idea.”

“Precisely,” he says gruffly.

Tyler feels suddenly uncomfortable, like when he hap-pens into the den and Sara is “entertaining” her new boyfriend, Hawkeye. Arms wrapped around each other, they look like they are wrestling.

His grandma sighs, breaking the spell. “So what are we going to do to help out those poor girls and their father?”

Mr. Rossetti agrees with Mom. These smugglers are in Texas. That's American soil under the rule of law. Homeland Security can stand by, and just as Mr. Cruz goes in with the money, boom, they descend on the place. Maybe seeing how he has helped them round up criminals, Homeland Security will reward Mr. Cruz with a visa.

“And you call
me
a dreamer?!” Now it's Grandma shaking her head at Mr. Rossetti.

Tyler and Grandma swing by the trailer on their way home. Tyler has told her that the girls were not at school today “I haven't seen hide nor hair of them all day long, either,” Grandma remarks. “I don't know what we'd do without them,” she adds, mirroring Tyler's thoughts. “I know I've become so attached to the whole family.”

The men are still milking, but the girls are in the trailer, sitting in front of the TV. Instead of their silly
Dora
cartoons, they're watching a news special about all the protest marches going on in support of immigrant rights. “Papá wants us to tell him in case something is announced,” Ofie explains.

Mari accompanies Tyler and Grandma to the door, then slips out after them. “I don't want my sisters to hear,” she whispers. There are some new developments. Mr. Cruz phoned back the
coyotes,
which is what he calls the smugglers. He pleaded that he hasn't been able to come up with that kind of money. According to Mari, the
coyotes
lowered the amount to half! Her father and Tío Armando have come up with most of the money. Mari's uncles in California will put in the rest.

“My father thinks that maybe with all the demonstrations, the
coyotes
are all getting nervous to unload their cargo,” Mari adds.

Cargo?! Tyler can't believe a human being would think of another human being that way! But he knows what Mari means about the demonstrations. It's all over the news. In
cities around the country, there have been big marches by people in favor of changing the laws to help immigrants. Just in Los Angeles, thousands upon thousands of people took to the streets. Then, a week before Tyler's 4-H club is supposed to go on its trip, there's a national strike. People who sup-port immigrants are asked to stay home from work. In D.C. there's a huge protest march. The camera sweeps over the crowd waving American and Mexican flags and chanting
“¡Sí, se puede!”
which Tyler proudly translates for his family. Yes, we can! Yes, we can!

And this makes a whole bunch of people nervous, in-cluding the parents of several 4-Hers, who pull their kids out of the trip. What if a riot breaks out? What if there is a para-lyzing strike and they can't get back to Vermont? When five kids drop out, the trip is postponed until things quiet down.

Tyler is surprised that he's not more disappointed about not getting to go to Washington. Maybe the freedom-fighting energy of the marchers on TV is catching. Like Mr. Bicknell said the other day in class, the function of freedom is to free someone else.

Meanwhile, Mr. Cruz has allowed his daughters to go back to school. Mari is on cloud nine. “We talked to her last night,” she tells Tyler one morning as they wait for the bus. Before sending any money to the
coyotes,
her father insisted on speaking to his wife. After all, it could be one big horrible trick. “She said she loved us. She said she'd see us soon. She said to keep praying hard.” Mari is in such a state that even during class, Tyler can see that her thoughts are far away.

But then, one more surprise, and not the good kind. By
evening, Mari is sobbing on her back steps. It turns out that fifteen hundred dollars just buys her mother's freedom to be dumped out on the street in an undisclosed town in Texas where they are holding her. If Mr. Cruz wants a “custom de-livery,” to North Carolina, say, where the
coyotes
are already sending a whole vanload, that's another five hundred dollars he has to come up with.

Tyler doesn't have to think twice. He has saved that much for his postponed 4-H trip. “Tell your dad I can loan it to him,” he tells Mari. That afternoon at the milking parlor, Mr. Cruz comes over to where Tyler is helping feed the cows that are waiting to go in. He reaches for Tyler's hand.
“Gracias,”
he says with emotion in his voice.
“Ústed es un hombrecito bueno.”

Tyler doesn't need Mari to translate her father's words. It's like the compliment Mr. Bicknell gave him on town meeting night. At least this time, he might not be a good young man, but he is getting better.

When Tyler comes back inside that evening, Mom is beaming from ear to ear. “Now what?!” he asks. Even he can hear the interrobang in his voice.

“Your aunt Roxie just called. She feels terrible about for-getting your birthday. They were doing a big Mardi Gras party in New Orleans, and then they flew to Brazil to buy this year's used Carnaval costumes for their online store.

Anyhow, we got to talking about your not getting to go to D.C., and they want you to call them, okay?”

Tyler's heart sinks. He can see what is coming. His aunt and uncle are going to offer to take him to D.C. But the money for his trip has already been loaned. He thought he wouldn't even have to tell his parents until Mr. Cruz paid it back.

“It's nothing bad,” his mom tells him, but Tyler must still look worried because she goes ahead and tells him the sur-prise. “Okay, on Friday night, Ben's driving you down to Boston—and then Saturday, you and Uncle Tony and Aunt Roxie and whoever you want to bring along are all going to D.C! Then they'll drive you back to Vermont before school starts. Isn't that terrific?”

“How much will it cost?” Tyler wants to know.

“They're paying for the whole thing. It's their birthday gift to you.” His mom suddenly stops and studies him. “I thought you'd be excited.”

Tyler nods eagerly, but his mother doesn't look con-vinced. “I don't know what's going on, Tyler Maxwell Pa-quette. One minute you'll do anything to get to D.C. Next minute it's take it or leave it.” She shakes her head the way she does over Sara's moodiness. “Anyhow, whatever you de-cide, just please call Aunt Roxie and Uncle Tony, because I told them you'd be in soon. And please, act surprised, okay? And do thank them, because it was awfully generous of them. Not just the money, but the time—you know how busy they are.”

Relief and uncertainty are fighting for ground inside Tyler's head as he dials his aunt and uncle's number.

“Hey, hey, hey, birthday boy!” his uncle calls out. Soon Aunt Roxie is on the other extension singing “Happy Birthday.” Uncle Tony joins in. They sing two whole stanzas.

“Will you ever forgive us?” Aunt Roxie sounds like she has committed a major crime, not just forgotten a nephew's birthday.

“He shouldn't,” Uncle Tony butts in. “Here we throw parties for the whole world and we forget our own nephew!”

“How shall we make it up to him?” Aunt Roxie wants to know.

Back and forth they talk, like on some sitcom on TV. All Tyler has to do is watch from the wings. When they tell him about the gift they have in store for him, that's his cue. He acts surprised. “Thank you so much,” he says gratefully.

“So we'll see you in a few days, buddy,” Uncle Tony con-firms. He's about to hang up, but Aunt Roxie reminds him, “Wait, we forgot to ask him.

“Tyler, maybe you'd like to invite someone? I thought of your sister,” Aunt Roxie suggests. “I mean, there's room. But this is your birthday gift, so maybe you'd rather bring a friend?”

“Yeah.” Tyler jumps at the offer. He'd much rather bring a friend. Sara'll want to go shopping. She'll want to go to fancy restaurants where they don't serve hamburgers and Cokes. “Is it okay if it's a girl?”

There is a slight hesitation—an interrobang at both ex-tensions. Then his uncle and aunt chime in, “Why not?”

One more thing. Tyler takes a deep breath. It's been a month of surprises sprung on him, so it's his turn to surprise someone else. “Do you mind if we go to North Carolina instead?”

“North Carolina?!” Uncle Tony makes no attempt to hide the bafflement in his voice.

“What's in North Carolina?” His aunt sounds equally baffled.

“Durham,” Tyler tells them. His aunt and uncle burst out laughing, thinking it's a joke.

Back at the barn, Mr. Cruz is finishing up in the milking par-lor. Tyler tries explaining his plan with his few words of Spanish. His
tío
and
tía
have offered him a trip for spring break. Tyler pretends to drive a car. He has asked to go to Carolina del Norte, where they can pick up Señora Cruz and bring her back to Vermont.

Carolina del Norte, Señora Cruz, Vermont:
Mr. Cruz connects enough dots to understand. His face lights up with such joy that Tyler can't help smiling. Mr. Cruz grabs Tyler's arm and gestures toward the trailer. They need Mari's trans-lation help to work out the details of this wonderful surprise.

As soon as he's in the door, Mr. Cruz nods for Tyler to repeat what he said in the barn. Remembering the looks Mr.

Cruz has been giving him, Tyler doubts Mari will be allowed to go on his birthday trip. So he repeats his invitation without specifying which of the Cruzes is to be his special guest.

“My father says thank you.” Mari is suddenly talking in English to Tyler. “He says he would like to go, but he needs to keep working to begin paying back his loan. He says it is difficult for my uncle to do all the milking by himself. My fa-ther says it's better—if your uncle and aunt would permit it—if I go.”