Make Your Home Among Strangers

Lizet gets a vague email from Professor Kaufmann asking to meet in person, and she immediately becomes nervous. Lizet anticipates another incident like the one with her writing teacher: In class that day, she quietly says goodbye to all her treasured equipment, imagining she won’t see it again. In Professor Kaufmann’s office, however, it immediately becomes clear nothing is wrong. Professor Kaufmann invites Lizet to apply to work in her lab in California for the summer. They talk about grades: Lizet prepares to use Ariel Hernandez as an excuse for her soft grades last semester, but Professor Kaufmann misinterprets it as trouble with a boyfriend. Lizet feels relieved—she thinks, “For the past six weeks, I’d worked hard at being less Cuban, at trying to pass as anything but Cuban. I’d refused to be an ambassador, but to get this internship, maybe an ambassador was what I needed to be” (281). That night, Lizet decides not to call her parents about the good news, anticipating their skepticism. In retrospect, present-day Lizet she wishes she had called earlier. 

Lizet reflects on other first-generation college students she knew, and the moments they realized their families were hiding the truth about their lives from them. This reflection segues into Lizet’s discovery of her mother’s face on national news, where Mami is speaking on behalf of the organization Mothers for Justice. After the news report, Lizet freaks out, screaming at the white girls in the room about Ariel and what he deserves, the sacrifice his mother made. One of the girls mocks Lizet, suggesting she doesn’t belong at Rawlings, and another girl holds Lizet back to avoid a fight.

After the feud, Lizet runs upstairs and tries to call home, but neither of her parents answer. She decides not to apply for the internship, because “I didn’t deserve it anyway […] I recognized what I was: Professor Kaufmann’s pity case” (295). Lizet then impulsively books a ticket to return home for Easter, to try to help her family.  

Jillian mostly avoids Lizet, spending most of her time with her new boyfriend. Lizet assumes she heard from the girls about the spat in the TV lounge. Meanwhile, reporters regularly cover the members of Mothers for Justice, who lie on the ground acting as speed bumps in front of Ariel’s house, and who wear mourning clothes and pray for Ariel’s dead mother. Lizet calls home, but Leidy pretends their mother is just fine, and Lizet doesn’t push it. She finally breaks down and tries to seek solace in Ethan; “No one but him consistently called me Lizet—not Liz, and never El—and thought neither of us said this outright, I took it as some agreement between us to keep each other intact.” (298).

Ethan, however, is busy celebrating his admission into a doctoral program at Berkeley, and he and Lizet get into an argument when she isn’t as enthusiastic about his news. Lizet spends her spring break alone, working extra shifts at the library and dodging Professor Kaufmann, who has now realized Lizet won’t be applying for the internship. 

Lizet asks Omar to pick her up from the airport. He agrees, but they get into an argument when she insists on going to her dad’s apartment in Hialeah. Omar doesn’t want to leave her there, but eventually Papi comes outside sends Omar away, and insists that Lizet come inside. Papi and Lizet get into an argument; Lizet insists on staying with him and asks for his help in managing Mami. Papi refuses to get involved, telling Lizet that he works hard enough to pay for her to go to Rawlings.

Lizet is devastated when, after she tells her father that Mami and Ariel are giving a bad name to Cubans, he responds, “You’re not Cuban” (314). The next morning, Papi drives Lizet to Mami’s apartment. Leidy answers, and they fight, but ultimately Leidy agrees she is happy to see Lizet. Lizet realizes that Leidy has changed since becoming a mother; they might be able to save Mami together, after all.