Reaching Out

Now in the second half of his sophomore year, Frank feels less worried about school and family. His father is slowly recovering under the care of Frank’s Tía Chana: “She told my mother that he prayed for us every day” (122). Frank finds a soul mate in Laura Facchini, an intelligent freshman classmate in his Latin American Literature class. Laura and Frank work together at the language lab, and afterword they sit on the front steps of the library and share stories of their working-class childhoods. Frank comes to feel trust and affection for Laura. 

Frank befriends Laura’s friend Emily Bernabé, another student at the college. He enjoys eating dinner at her home in the company of Laura, Emily, and Emily’s mother. Emily shares similar experiences with Frank of growing up Mexican-American and working-class. “I visited Emily and her mother several times after that, and each time I felt as if I were with my own family” (131). 

Frank befriends Rafael Hernández, a janitor at the college who comes from the same area of Mexico and has also done field labor. Years ago, Rafael left his children and his ill wife in the care of his mother in Mexico, and came to the U.