Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan Read Free Book Online

her. When she went to town, she was escorted and hurried around any beggars. And the peasants always kept their distance. That was simply the way it was. She couldn’t help but wonder if they would steal her things.
    â€œMama,” said Esperanza, stopping in the doorway. “We cannot travel in this car. It … it is not clean. And the people do not look trustworthy.”
    Esperanza saw Miguel frown as he edged around her to sit down.
    Mama took her hand and guided her to an empty bench where Esperanza slid over next to the window. “Papa would never have had us sit here and Abuelita wouldn’t approve,” she said, stubbornly.
    â€œ
Mija,
it is all we can afford,” said Mama. “We must make do. It is not easy for me either. But remember, we are going to a place that will be better than living with Tío Luis, and at least we will be together.”
    The train pulled out and settled into a steady motion. Hortensia and Mama took out their crocheting. Mama was using a small hook and white cotton thread to make
carpetas,
lace doilies, to put under a lamp or a vase. She held up her work to Esperanza and smiled. “Would you like to learn?”
    Esperanza shook her head. Why did Mama bother crocheting lace? They had no vases or
lámparas
to put on top of them. Esperanza leaned her head against the window. She knew she did not belong here. She was Esperanza Ortega from El Rancho de las Rosas. She crossed her arms tight and stared out the window.
    For hours, Esperanza watched the undulating land pass in front of her. Everything seemed to remind her of what she had left behind: the
nopales
reminded her of Abuelita who loved to eat the prickly pear cactus sliced and soaked in vinegar and oil; the dogs from small villages that barked and ran after the train reminded her of Marisol, whose dog, Capitán, chased after trains the same way. And every time Esperanza saw a shrine decorated with crosses, flowers, and miniature statues of saints next to the rails, she couldn’t help but wonder if it had been someone’s father who had died on the tracks and if somewhere there was another girl who missed him, too.
    Esperanza opened her valise to check on the doll, lifting it out and straightening her clothes. The barefoot peasant girl ran over.
    â€œMona,”
she said, and reached up to touch the doll. Esperanza quickly jerked it away and put it back in the valise, covering it with the old clothes.
    â€œÂ¡Mona! ¡Mona!”
said the little girl, running back to her mother. And then she began to cry.
    Mama and Hortensia both stopped their needles and stared at Esperanza.
    Mama looked across at the girl’s mother. “I am sorry for my daughter’s bad manners.”
    Esperanza looked at Mama in surprise. Why was she apologizing to these people? She and Mama shouldn’t even be sitting in this car.
    Hortensia looked from one to the other and excused herself. “I think I will find Alfonso and Miguel and see if they bought
tortillas
at the station.”
    Mama looked at Esperanza. “I don’t think it would have hurt to let her hold it for a few moments.”
    â€œMama, she is poor and dirty …” said Esperanza.
    But Mama interrupted. “When you scorn these people, you scorn Miguel, Hortensia, and Alfonso. And you embarrass me and yourself. As difficult as it is to accept, our lives are different now.”
    The child kept crying. Her face was so dirty that her tears washed clean streaks down her cheeks. Esperanza suddenly felt ashamed and the color rose in her face, but she still pushed the valise farther under the seat with her feet and turned her body away from Mama.
    Esperanza tried not to look back at the little girl but she couldn’t help it. She wished she could tell the little girl’s mother that she had always given her old toys to the orphanage, but that this doll was special. Besides, the child would have soiled it with her