How Tía Lola Saved the Summer (18 page)

When everything else is packed, Essie checks again, but
the scabbard is still not dry. “Can I take it home like this?” she asks her father tentatively, holding up the sword in one hand and the scabbard in the other. “I’ll be careful, promise.” She knows how strict Papa can be about dangerous objects that might slice off toes or stab a dog in the guts.

But Papa doesn’t seem to care one way or the other. This is both welcome (Essie can get away with murder!) and disconcerting (who’s covering her back if not her father?).

“What’s the problem?” Mami wants to know. She and Tía Lola have just entered with a large basket of goodies covered with a green dish towel. Both are smiling happily, as if the Swords were just arriving rather than getting ready to go.

“It’s not really a problem,” Essie is quick to explain before the nonproblem becomes a problem. “Just that the sword’s scabbard is still damp from last night, but I can just wrap it in a towel for the ride home.”

Mami crouches down beside her. “Here’s an alternate plan, okay? Rather than taking it down to bring it right back up, why not just keep it here for when you move to Vermont real soon? Don’t you think so, Víctor?”

It’s as if a bucket of happiness has just splashed on Papa’s face. Essie is the first to notice. “You mean, we
are
going to move to Vermont?” Essie’s father looks toward Mami, wanting confirmation.

“I meant for it to be more of a surprise.” Mami is blushing with sudden self-consciousness. She reaches under the dish towel and pulls out a note from the basket and hands it to Víctor. “ ‘To all the Swords,’ ” he reads out loud.
“ ‘Please move to Vermont and bring Valentino with you, or I will die of a broken heart, and you will be responsible for murder.’ ”

The girls break out in cheers. Valentino barks and wags his tail. Mami has said
yes
! Papa gives her a long, happy hug. But his happiness is too great to keep to just the two of them. He hugs each of his daughters, then Juanita and Tía Lola, and finally Miguel. With his hair wet and messed up, he could be a young man again, getting a second chance to live out a new dream. Meanwhile, Essie seems to have forgotten all about her samurai sword. She can live with several weeks of not getting anything she wants if at the end of this sacrifice she will get to move to Vermont.

Plans will be made over the phone in the days and weeks to come. But for now, it’s time to say goodbye. Difficult as parting is, it’s certainly a lot easier when you know you’re coming back soon. Mami and Juanita step out onto the porch to wave until the van disappears around the bend in the driveway.

Miguel hangs back in the mudroom, dazed by the news he has just heard. Then, as if a whole week has not passed, his aunt is standing beside him. She squeezes his shoulder, just as she did upon the Swords’ arrival. Reach into our treasure chest, her gaze is reminding him. Find what you need!

Miguel thinks back on last night’s campfire. He is grateful that his parents have reconciled. That they are both happy. That soon his team will have a great new coach. Still, big changes lie ahead. But Miguel will have Cari’s tadpoles
and Victoria’s independence to help him, plus three new friends, even if they are all girls. Most of all, Tía Lola will be beside him, as she is now, reminding him to keep reaching deeper, past flowers and tadpoles, second chances, forgiveness, friendship, gratitude, independence, until he finds his very own happiness.

acknowledgments

Just as Tía Lola gave each camper
a magical sword,
I am awarding
each of you
who helped me write this book
a special sword
to help you
slay monsters,
cut flowers,
achieve your dreams,
and much, much more.

Also and always,
my thanks and
gracias
to la Virgencita de la Altagracia.
Swords go to: Brad Nadeau, Weybridge Elementary School, Weybridge 2009 Little League team, Coach Charlie Messenger, Roberto Veguez, Erica Stahler, Lyn Tavares, Susan Bergholz, Erin Clarke, Bill Eichner

about the author

Julia Alvarez
’s novels for young readers include
Return to Sender, Finding Miracles, Before We Were Free, How Tía Lola Learned to Teach
, and
How Tía Lola Came to
Visit
Stay
, which
Kirkus Reviews
praised as “
simple, bella, un regalo permanente
—simple and beautiful, a gift that will stay.” She is also the award-winning author of
How the García Girls Lost Their Accents, ¡Yo!
, and
In the Time of the Butterflies.
She lives in Vermont with her husband and is a writer-in-residence at Middlebury College.

Julia Alvarez grew up in the Dominican Republic with dozens upon dozens of aunties, or
tías.
“They were like my second mothers, and there always seemed to be one for any occasion or mood.… When I started writing my story about an aunt, I couldn’t pick just one. So I took a pinch of this aunt, a spoonful of that one, and a cup of this other one—whatever I needed to make up my Tía Lola!”