The Distance Between Us: Book Two: Chapter 15 Summary & Analysis

In June of 1990, Mago becomes the first person on either side of her family to earn a high school diploma. At the same time, Reyna is graduating from junior high. She is the third person to do so, and so her accomplishment is not as special. Still, she holds onto her dreams of the future—dreams given to her by Papi—even in her worst moments, like when Papi beats her in a drunken stupor. Despite all the abuse and badness, Reyna and her siblings’ green cards arrive, and Papi tells them that their futures are in their own hands. Papi even takes out a loan to help Mago pay for college so that she can study to become a lawyer.

Reyna attends band camp at the high school that summer, and the months fly by. Soon, Reyna will be turning fifteen. Though she knows she won’t be having a quinceañera, part of her is looking forward to the milestone. One afternoon, a few days before Reyna’s birthday, Carlos doesn’t come home on time from the park where he’s gone to play with his friends. Hours later, two men bring Carlos through the front door—he is pale, covered in sweat, and has a broken leg.

Papi yells at Carlos for going to the park in the first place, and then cracks a beer and retreats to his bedroom. Mago asks if Papi is going to take Carlos to the hospital, but he refuses. Carlos begs Mago to take him to the hospital, but no matter how hard she tries to get Papi to come out of his room, he stays put. Reyna wishes she had the courage to call 911, or go find a neighbor. Neither her nor Mago, though, is brave enough to defy their terrifying father. They nurse Carlos through the night, and all the while, Reyna muses at how the Man Behind the Glass was a better father than the one they live with now.

In the morning, Papi still refuses to take Carlos to the hospital. Reyna and Mago beg Mila to take him, but she won’t defy Papi, either. Mago goes off to work, and when she tells her coworkers what’s going on, they volunteer to come help her take Carlos to get some help. Just as they arrive and begin loading Carlos into the car, Papi pulls into the driveway and insists on being the one to take Carlos to the hospital.

Carlos comes home later that evening with his leg in a cast, having broken two major bones. After Papi goes to bed, Mila tells the children that because their father grew up in an abusive household, he doesn’t know any other way to behave. Reyna and her siblings understand what life with Augurio and Evila must have been like, but they no longer feel this is an excuse for Papi’s behavior. Still, Reyna feels guilty for expecting more from her father—after all, he brought them to El Otro Lado, and to complain now seems, to her, ungrateful.