Clap When You Land

On the airplane to the Dominican Republic, Yahaira is unusually nervous even though she considers that she was never afraid of flying before. She shuts her eyes until landing after she catches a glimpse of the blue ocean below the aircraft. When the plane touches down, some passengers in the cabin clap. A flight attendant tells Yahaira that it is a custom to clap when you land in the Dominican Republic, to thank God for allowing a safe return.

Once she is through customs, Yahaira meets Camino in person for the first time. At first glance, Yahaira realizes that she is angry with Camino, but she reconsiders her impulse, reminding herself that Papi left Camino to be with Yahaira. When Camino leads them to an unofficial taxi, Yahaira refuses, instead paying for a more expensive cab she considers to be safer. On the ride to Tía Solana’s house, Yahaira tries to use her Spanish to ask about the sights, but Camino responds in perfect English. This passive antagonism sets the tone for their first few days together in the Dominican Republic: “I feel like I am losing to my sister & it’s / only the opening” (327).

As Yahaira regards Camino’s house in Sosúa, she finds it hard to imagine her father living there: “He was a man who loved his luxuries. / & this is a barrio house. / A nice barrio house, but a barrio / nonetheless” (329). When she meets Tía Solana, she is welcomed fondly in a hug. Tía Solana asks her to tell the whole story but says that first she should eat what her sister has made for her.

Later, while helping Camino pick fresh herbs, Yahaira meets the stray dog Vira Lata. Although Camino suggests that Vira Lata does not leave the house much to travel in the direction of the busy street, Yahaira notices that he is happy to follow Camino in the opposite direction toward the beachfront. Across the street Yahaira spots El Cero, whose leering in Camino’s direction makes Yahaira uncomfortable.

That night, Camino answers the phone and passes Mami’s frantic call to Yahaira. Yahaira is surprised that it took Dre so long to confess Yahaira’s whereabouts. Camino rankles at the sight of Tía Solana’s comforting pats on Yahaira’s back while Mami yells audibly on the phone. Consumed by bitterness, Camino considers that Tía has already likely forgotten that her birthday is drawing near.

At night, the girls share a room and speak in the darkness to one another. Yahaira asks Camino if she believes in ghosts, and Camino vehemently agrees spirits are real. Yahaira considers where Papi’s ghost will reside, and Camino answers simply that he will be wherever they carry him.

In the morning, Tía Solana suggests Camino show her the beach, but Camino is visibly resistant to the idea, later explaining El Cero in vague terms as a presence she wants them to avoid: “this guy who hangs out there; / I don’t think he would be very nice for either of us to see” (342). When Yahaira agrees that there are disrespectful men in her world, too, Camino huffs, rebuking her sharply. Yahaira is struck by her sister’s quick and harsh criticism. Later Camino reflects that she was harsh, but that she also knows that Yahaira could not truly have encountered a danger as perilous as the one El Cero poses, suggesting that Yahaira’s privilege makes her incapable of understanding what Camino has sacrificed. Camino despairs that she will never be a doctor: “Isn’t that what makes a dream a dream? / You wake up eventually, / But [...] [Yahaira] gets to keep / living in the clouds” (343).

Mami arrives in a Prius, rushing to hold Yahaira, visibly shaken by the immense risk her daughter has taken. She kisses Tía Solana, reminding Yahaira that Mami was Mamá’s close friend and would have likely even been to the house. She regards Camino a long moment before kissing the air at her cheek and telling her how much her father loved her. Later, Mami and Tía sit inside together while Camino and Yahaira smoke cigars on the porch. When Yahaira is struck by a coughing fit, it is the catalyst she has needed to allow herself to weep for Papi.

Unable to take her sister to the beachfront, the next day Camino leads Yahaira on a long walk to a river where they can both swim. Impressed by Camino’s skill in the water, Yahaira feels her competitive streak return: “It is hard to remind myself I am not playing / against my sister. We are on the same team, I tell myself. / Even if I don’t actually believe that” (350).

Much to Mami’s chagrin, Tía and Camino have planned a procession complete with a marching band. Yahaira borrows a light dress from Camino, and the sisters walk together, arm in arm, covering the short distance to Papi’s grave. So many people join the procession that Yahaira considers that Papi would have loved the spectacle: “People sing songs I don’t know. / I think Papi would have loved us making such a fuss” (352).

As Papi is lowered into his plot, Mami weeps uncontrollably. Yahaira watches dirt fill in over his casket until the grave is filled over: “filled up / & made whole / again / but not the same” (354). Tía Solana begins to pray the novena, a tradition of ancient Christianity requiring nine successive days of prayer. At Tía’s home, mourners gather to eat and pray for Papi’s departed soul to be ushered into heaven. Mami sits in a corner, where Camino brings her a plate of food. Camino tells her that her loss of appetite and body aches are likely a sign of high stress, suggesting that she eat and try her best to rest tonight. Although Camino expects that Mami will resent her for meddling, she offers Camino a smile instead and tells Camino that her father always hoped to keep her close to him once she made it to America and that they live near Columbia University in New York. Camino reflects that it is progress for their relationship and likely the last that will be made: “I want her to have / this memory / when it is all / said & done” (359).

While they smoke together on the porch, Yahaira asks Camino where she gets her cigars. Camino tells her that Tía keeps them for her ceremonies, likening the practice to Papi’s beads. When Yahaira reveals that she never knew her father to wear jewelry, the sisters wonder about Papi’s dichotomous personas: “Never fully here nor there. / One toe in each country. / Ni acquí ni allá” (360).

Later, Yahaira notices the altar that Camino had explained was important to her father’s religious practices. She reconsiders the role of magic in her life: “Camino [...] says the prayers & sacrifices are important to having a relationship with the Saints [...] who [...] nudge open doors for us” (365). Yahaira pauses, recognizing a coin that belonged to him, and finds the $10,000 she had transferred taped to the back of his portrait. It is Yahaira’s first hint that Camino is preparing to run away.

When Yahaira wakes, she knows intuitively that something is wrong. Camino is not in the room. Beneath the bed Yahaira finds the torn-up scraps of the certificate with Camino’s mother’s name on it. Outside, Yahaira can hear Vira Lata barking at the house, and there is a new note on the altar addressed to Tía Solana. When Mami and Tía Solana wake, the women quickly try to piece together where Camino could have gone. Yahaira admits that her passport is missing, and they realize Camino’s plan to leave using the passport. As they consider where Camino might have gone, Vira Lata’s frantic barking leads them to the beachfront.

After discovering her parent’s marriage certificate while looking through Yahaira’s bag for her passport, Camino is crushed to find that her father did not marry her mother until after Yahaira was born. She rips up the document. Considering herself merely an interruption in her father’s life, Camino goes to the beachfront near the resort where she feels most connected to her mother, recalling a memory of her mother telling her to wave at her father’s departing plane. Storm clouds gather as El Cero approaches, breaking Camino from her revelry. Camino tries to sidestep him, aware that everything she owns is in the bag she has with her. She tells him that she has money and would like to pay the debt—“Half now & half tomorrow? Let it be settled” (374)—but when she pays El Cero in cash, he tears the purse from her grasp to find the large sum of money Camino has on her. Camino shouts at him that his sister is likely “turning in her grave” to see the man he has become (377). In a rage, El Cero throws her to the ground. He takes the money and her sister’s passport.

El Cero’s attack is brutal. He tears her shirt before Yahaira arrives in time to throw El Cero off Camino. Yahaira clings to her sister as El Cero returns to his feet. Angling his shoulder, he warns Yahaira to mind her business, but headlights flood the beach as Mami and Tía Solana approach. Confident and severe in her defense of the girls, Mami warns El Cero never to approach Camino again, threatening that there is nowhere he would be able to hide from Mami’s well-connected family: “This girl does not exist for you anymore” (387). Outnumbered, El Cero returns the passport and money as he backs away.

The next morning, Yahaira tells Mami that Camino needs to come back to America with them: “Not because / it’s what Papi wanted, but because it’s what she most needs” (396). Mami corrects her and tells her that it is what Yahaira and Mami need. After briefly leaving, Mami returns to sit on the porch with Camino. Although Camino is bracing herself to be lectured, Mami tells Camino she needs a mother, and that she had only avoided a relationship with Camino to protect herself: “I was so softhearted / when it came to your father. / I didn’t want the sight of you to undo me” (399). Mami also reveals that her heartbreak stems not only from Papi’s betrayal but also from the betrayal of Camino’s mother, who introduced her to Papi and later married him in secret: “I thought I would look at you / & see her betrayal on your skin. [...] I did it to protect myself” (399). She shows Camino an emergency appointment form she has brought back from the consular’s agency. As Camino attains what she has wanted for so long, an interview for a visa to leave, she considers her sudden reluctance to leave: “How bittersweet / a realized dream can be flavored” (399).

Camino and Tía Solana make a house call to the woman with cancer from weeks before, but the tumor in her stomach has somehow diminished. The room where she lives, previously bare, now has fresh flowers in a vase, and the sheets have been changed recently. The neighborhood has put its arms around the woman. Later that night, Carline visits to wish Camino a happy belated birthday. Luciano has been breathing better, and they both understand that a miracle has taken place. Camino realizes that Carline, who is out of work and crowded where she lives now, would make a perfect apprentice for Tía Solana’s work in the neighborhood. Camino decides she will broach the idea with her aunt.

Over the next few days, Camino and Mami spend time preparing for Camino’s interview at the consular agency, gathering her birth certificate and proof that Mami is already Camino’s legally standing stepmother through her marriage to Papi. Driving together, Camino and Mami begin to form a rapport: “when I’m humming along to a song, / she turns up the radio” (405). Before signing her visa, Mami’s cousin at the consulate asks Camino what she plans to do in her studies, to which Camino responds that she plans to study premed at Columbia. Soon after, Camino’s visa is approved.

That night, Yahaira introduces Camino to Dre by way of video call. Climbing out onto her fire escape, Dre shows Camino the garden of seedlings she has planted in anticipation of her arrival in New York: “I thought / starting you a little herb garden might help make you feel more at home” (410). Speaking loudly enough for Dre to hear, Camino asks Yahaira if Dre has a double she could marry.

At the airport terminal, Camino cries inconsolably, but Tía is firm in her encouraging goodbye. When Camino hesitates at her gate, she can see Tía shaking her head, shooing her forward into her future: “Onward. Always onward” (415). On the plane, Camino closes her eyes, bracing for the first flight she has ever taken. Yahaira holds her hand and warns her that when they land, some of the passengers will clap in celebration. She reflects on their shared gratitude and surprise at finding each other: “Of all the ways it could end / it ends not with us in the sky or the water, / but together / on solid earth / safely grounded” (416).