The Only Road

Atop the train, Jaime, Ángela, and Xavi meet two boys named Lalo and Victor. They are friendly, but Ángela is suspicious of them, and rightly so: Jaime falls asleep while sketching when he is supposed to be standing guard, and Lalo and Victor steal their backpacks. Ángela is furious at Jaime, and while Xavi sticks up for him, she cannot be consoled. They pass an uneasy time, Ángela huddled with Xavi while Jaime sits alone, afraid his cousin will leave him.

They have changed trains and are still moving north when a shout goes up: Members of the fearsome local gang have boarded the train. Los Fuegos have a terrible reputation for running drugs and robbing and killing migrants. The three children have no choice but to jump from the train. It is nighttime, but there are jeeps waiting for them, catching them in the headlights and chasing them. Jaime manages to escape by turning faster than the vehicle can and finding an animal’s hole in which to bury himself.

As the night goes on Jaime hears terrible screams and the sound of voices and cars until finally nothing. Emerging from his hiding place, Jaime calls for his cousin, to no avail. He makes for the hill Xavi had pointed to as a meeting place and spends the night alone, freezing and scared.

In the morning Jaime explores the area and is overjoyed to find Ángela. She is hurt and cannot walk or stand, but she is alive. They collapse into each other’s arms, forgiving their petty squabbles and swearing never to leave the other alone again.

All they have left is Jaime’s sketchbook and the sewing kit Ángela had in her pocket, but Jaime fashions a brace for her ankle. They are surprised when Vida comes rushing out of nowhere to greet them, then their happiness turns to dread when they realize what it means that the dog is all alone: “Xavi wasn’t coming” (142).

As the cousins begin to accept that they are alone and Xavi is most likely taken or dead, they discuss what to do. Ángela advocates for going home, surrendering themselves to la migra and hoping to be deported back to Guatemala. She would face the fury of the Alphas to be reunited with their families and back in familiar surroundings. Jaime is appalled—he cannot believe that after coming so far and all Ángela wants to do is turn back. In his eyes the decision is obvious: “They were going to continue, or die trying” (145). Jaime reminds Ángela they are making the journey for their families, to ensure Miguel’s death was not meaningless and to defy the gang that killed him.

Ángela eventually gives in, the balance of power shifting between them as Jaime steps up to care for his older cousin. For lack of a better idea, they follow the train tracks through an unforgiving, desolate landscape. Ángela is badly injured, and they have not had food or water in days. When they come upon a house, they see no choice but to approach it: “They wouldn’t survive another hour” (146).

Señora Pérez is home alone with her twin babies and takes pity on the children. She lets them clean up and gives them food and drink in exchange for their help around the house. Finally, she offers to drop them near the border, a three-hour drive from her house. She must go there to pick up her husband, she explains, and the cousins are overwhelmed by her generous offer. Somewhat reluctantly, Señora Pérez drops the children at a migrant camp near the border. Ángela tells her, “We owe you our lives” (151), and Jaime agrees.

The migrant camp is busy, and the cousins receive multiple offers—and prices—from coyotes (guides) offering to take them across the river. They are savvier now and find a place to lay low while they discuss their options. They find a group of people who tell them the best of the cheap coyotes is Conejo. On hearing that the local gang passes through the camp regularly, they resolve to find Conejo and cross the border as quickly as they can. Still, Conejo’s fee—$2,200—is more than they can afford.

The cousins wander around Ciudad Juárez, and Jaime notes how ironic it is that they can see El Paso and the United States—their destination is so close and yet so far away. As the cousins try to think of ways to earn the $400 they are short of Conejo’s fee, Jaime has an idea. He uses a page of his sketchbook to draw “four famous people everyone would recognize—Jennifer Lopez, Jésus Cristo, President Obama, and Mickey Mouse” (156)—and sets up shop in a tourist area, offering to draw portraits. Despite some awkwardness due to their limited English, soon enough Jaime is drawing portraits and Ángela is doing some mending and sewing. Even Vida chips in, earning some money by posing for pictures.

Jaime is shocked to find a culture where people “expected to pay for everything” (160), but the cousins earn the money they need in just two days. They pay Conejo, who takes them to a place where they put their clothes in plastic bags and wade across the river. Jaime almost loses his bag, which contains his sketchbook, but manages to recover it. When Ángela scolds him for taking the risk, Jaime can only say, “It’s not just a book. It’s my life” (163).

They make the crossing, dodging the spotlight of a patrol helicopter, and are loaded into a woman’s car. They are stopped by an immigration patrol, but the woman has given Ángela a brush and a pretty shirt, and when the officer asks her if they live here, Ángela answers, “Yeah…just like a gringa” (167).

They arrive at a safehouse, and Jaime marvels that they could have reached it in 20 minutes instead of nearly eight hours if they had not had to sneak across the border. The safehouse is run with military efficiency: Each new migrant is given lice shampoo, disinfectant soap, and clean clothes. Jaime calls his brother’s number and leaves a message; they pass the next day trying new foods—peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are a novelty—and playing with Vida.

That afternoon Tomás arrives to pick them up. They have a happy if bittersweet reunion, as the cousins think of all the people—some living, some now dead—who helped them along the way. Tomás calls home, and their abuela answers; he tells them the cousins are safe, and she hangs up so she can tell the whole family the news.

The three of them and Vida drive off to New Mexico, where Tomás lives. Even as Jaime worries about all the challenges that will come next, he is finally able to relax and feel hope for the future. He draws a picture of them in the truck, this time not looking through his own eyes but from the vantage point of someone behind them, someone perhaps left behind but happy to see them heading off to their new home, to their new lives, to safety.