When I Was Puerto Rican: 12. You Don't Want to Know Summary & Analysis

Mami's belly starts getting bigger around the same time that Francisco is diagnosed with cancer. Mami moves her children again so that both Tata and Francisco can live with them. Tata is nice to Francisco when he's home, but is still mean when she drinks. Francisco and Mami's baby, Franky, is born in March. When Francisco is hospitalized again, Mami goes to visit him and he tells her he saw an angel the night before. A few days later, the hospital releases Francisco to go home to his parents' apartment, and he dies the next day. Mami mourns for the next year.

Negi tells the reader that she wrote to Papi for several weeks after arriving in Brooklyn. When Negi's siblings arrived, however, they told Negi that Papi married another woman after Mami left Puerto Rico and sent the children to live with other relatives. Negi confirms this story with Mami and then confronts Papi in a letter about it, telling him that he's as good as dead to her. Papi and Mami write letters and fight over this, though Mami insists that Negi and her siblings stay in touch with Papi. Negi agrees grudgingly, though she realizes that Mami is becoming both mother and father to her children, and they can count on her to always be there.

Mami leaves the house every morning to work in bra factories in Manhattan. She works her way up quickly from being a thread cutter to sewing the bras, and carries special scissors and a special handbag. Mami is happy when she works and is proud of what she makes, though she tells her children that they need to do better in life than she is. She asks them to translate their report cards for her and praises them when they receive good marks. Negi soon becomes suspicious that Mami's optimism is all for show. She fears that whatever Mami came looking for in Brooklyn doesn't exist anywhere.

Though Chico doesn't live with Negi's family, he spends time in their apartment regularly. He drinks all the time and offers the children small change to do small favors for him. One morning, when Negi is on her way to school, Chico stops her in the hallway and offers her a quarter to open her blouse. Negi refuses and threatens to tell Mami. The following day, Chico pinches Negi's nipple as he walks behind her. He tells her not to tell anyone and throws a dollar at her. Negi buys herself her first sundae the next day.

One day, Mami tells Negi that she has to go with her to the welfare office the next day. Negi whines, but Mami insists. Negi speaks enough English to explain Mami's situation to the social workers. At the office, they sit for hours. They never know when their name will be called. Fights break out occasionally, and even Mami punches a social worker once, saying that they treat her like an animal.

Negi often translates for other women in the welfare office. These women are little different from Mami, though Negi can tell that some of them are lying about their situations. Other women who aren't Puerto Rican claim to be Puerto Rican so they can take advantage of American citizenship. Negi feels conflicted about these women and doesn't know whether to tell the interviewers the women are lying or not. She's afraid the women who lie about being Puerto Rican make all Puerto Ricans look bad.

When Negi arrives home one day with a stack of books, Mami screams at her for being out late and talking back. Tata tries to call Mami off of Negi, but Mami persists. Negi isn't sure what Mami is angry about. Mami comes at Negi with raised fists and Negi grabs Mami's wrists. She and Mami both realize she's now strong enough to fight back, and Negi yells at Mami to kill her. Mami backs down and sends Negi to her room, but never hits her again.

Negi's neighborhood is especially violent. One day, Don Julio comes home after being mugged in the subway. After that, Negi sits by the window every night and watches for Mami coming up the street. Negi lives in fear that someone is going to rape her on her way to or from school. In the winter, Mami doesn't allow the children to do anything but walk to and from school, and she doesn't allow them to play outside.

Negi realizes that though Mami had enforced similar rules in Puerto Rico to keep the children from hurting themselves, in New York, the rules are meant to keep others from hurting them. Negi can barely comprehend the way people live in New York with their doors bolted tight. She doesn't understand how the neighbors would ever be able to help if they needed it.