The Distance Between Us: Book One: Chapter 8 Summary & Analysis

Four years after Reyna’s Papi left for the United States—and two years after her Mami left, too—construction at last begins on their family’s “dream house.” Evila gives Papi a piece of her property, and workers begin building the house right next to Evila’s. Though Reyna doesn’t want to live next to Evila, she knows it is her parents’ only option. The workers tear down both the outhouse and the shack where Reyna was born, and though Reyna is sad, Mago urges her to imagine the beautiful home that will take its place.

As construction continues, Reyna and her siblings pitch in and help the bricklayers. They are tired and sore at the end of each day, but the thought of living together with their parents again gives them strength. Soon, though, the workers stop coming—the money has run out, and the house will have to wait. Mago becomes angry, and tells her siblings that the house will never be finished—and neither will their parents return to them.