Merci Suárez Changes Gears

The weekend finds Merci in a foul mood. Abuela, annoyed by the incident at the beach with Lolo, has also been in an ugly mood. Merci hopes that Abuela’s mood will improve before Grand’s Day at Seaward. Merci listens and assists as Abuela marks up a pair of Tía Inés’s jeans for alteration. She’s had Tía Inés put the pants on in order to finalize the changes. During this process, Inés tells Abuela that Lolo needs to see a doctor. When Abuela reminds her that Lolo had an appointment last month, Inés replies, “It’s that…Enrique, Ana, and I discussed it. We want to stay on top of things, that’s all” (180). Merci’s ears prick at this: “Stay on top of what things?” she wonders (180).

Abuela complains that doctors do nothing but bestow more worries, and that the shuttles to the hospital are in no way equipped to transport elderly people respectfully. Merci writes, “‘Lolo needs to go to the doctor.’ Tía’s voice is suddenly a heavy stick. I can almost hear what she doesn’t say. And that’s final” (181). Merci wonders if she will ever speak to her own parents in this way. The thought discombobulates her. When Abuela tries to use Grands Day as a reason to not make an appointment, Inés tersely tells her to pick any other day that week.

Later, Merci finds the twins imaginarily painting the house with water. As she cleans up the mess they made in the kitchen, she finds Lolo’s glasses in the refrigerator. He hasn’t noticed that they’re not on when she returns them to him. She instinctively feels that she should hide this incident from anyone to not cause more worry, although it does strike her as odd.

Merci goes to speak more with the twins. She tells Lolo to put spray on his bug bites, which have welted. He leaves to do so. Merci feels suddenly angry at the sight of the twins playing their imaginary game—despite her memories of having loved to play similar games herself when she was younger. She tells the twins that it’s just water they’re working with, not paint. She accuses them of hiding Lolo’s glasses. They insist that they did no such thing, and Tomás flicks his paintbrush at her, splashing dirty water across her face, as he tells her to go away. In a flash, Merci snatches the brush from his hand and shakes him: “Quit it, liar!” she yells (186). Tía Inés and Lolo come out in order to see what’s going on. Merci tells them that it’s nothing, while the twins say that she is mean, and that the fight is her fault. Lolo tries again to ascertain what happened, and Merci doesn’t know what to say. She says, “They’re tired and cranky, that’s all! They’re being their usual bratty selves” (187). Tía Inés tells Merci not to call the twins brats and tells her that she is too old to be fighting with them this way: “Then find someone else to watch them,” [Merci says.] I’m not your servant! […] I hate watching them […] I hate watching everybody!” (187). Then, she storms off in tears.

Merci has been grounded for a week. This gives her a new appreciation for “anything fun, even if it’s in the form of a homework project” (189). This week, Ms. Tannenbaum has assigned the class a hieroglyphic letter-writing project. Each student is assigned a pen pal, to whom they must construct a letter using a hieroglyphic alphabet memorized in class. Their grade in the project is based on both the quality of the letter they construct and their ability to successfully decode the letter they received.

Merci’s outgoing letter is to be addressed to Lena, a quiet girl who normally eats lunch by herself. Lena also recently got a spiky haircut, with blue-dyed tips. As she begins her letter, she espies Michael’s open backpack. He’s returned to school with stitches on his lip that render him a virtual celebrity, and it’s been difficult to give him her apology letter. Merci’s also heard that his mother took away his phone for a week when she learned that his injury resulted from him breaking school rules. Merci hopes that this is the reason he did not respond to the text that she sent him immediately following the incident, in which she apologized and asked if he was okay. As the class works on its letters, Merci finds an opportunity to drop the formal apology letter into his open backpack. Lena’s the only one who notices this surreptitious action, but she does nothing but look away when Merci sees her looking.

Later, at home, Roli comes to Merci in their room and tells her that their mother has asked him to speak to her: “Well don’t,” Merci says (192). He persists and asks her if she remembers when he played the role of the embalmer for an assembly given as a part of Ms. Tanenbaum’s class. Merci does remember. She remembers his utter convincingness in the role. She tells him that she remembers that he used a crocheting needle as a prop to graphically explain the process of extracting a brain through nostrils. She also remembers James Tucker, who played the corpse in the setup and had the remarkable ability to stay extremely still. Merci then gives her hieroglyphic letter to Roli, asking if he can read it. Without skipping a beat, he tells her to perhaps reconsider “the part where [she says Lena’s] haircut makes her forehead look smaller” (194).

The next day in class, Merci receives her own hieroglyphic letter. It reads: “Dear Merci,/ A deal is a deal./ Michael” (195). Michael catches Merci’s eye across the room and flashes a grin. She pretends not to know who her letter is from when Jamie asks. That evening, Ana tasks Merci with making up with her grandparents: “Grands Day is next week […] No hard feelings allowed,” she tells Merci (196). Merci goes over to her grandparents’ casita for dinner. She writes, “This is typical of how we say sorry around here. Food and dominoes. Breaded steaks are my favorite, so I’m eating here tonight by myself. No Roli. No twins. And Lolo gets to play his favorite game. It’s the perfect peace offering” (196). Over dominoes, Abuelo tells Merci to update him on the goings-on of her life. She shows him Michael’s hieroglyphic note and then translates it for him. Lolo and Abuela teasingly imply that a romance is growing between Merci and Michael.