How Tía Lola Learned to Teach by Julia Álvarez Read Free Book Online Page B

Miguel attacks his own napkin, except instead of folding and refolding it, he is twisting it tight, wringing its neck.
    “So, what do you kids think of Carmen?” Papi asks, like he’s changing the subject to some totally unrelated question.
    At least Juanita doesn’t seem to catch on. “I love Carmen!” She says it so loud that some people turn in their booths to see what the little brown girl is so excited about.
    “And you, mi’jo ?” Papi asks delicately after waiting some seconds to hear what Miguel has to say.
    But Miguel can’t seem to find his tongue. He looks down at the napkin in his lap. He has managed to rip it apart, and has a piece in each hand.
    “S’okay, mi’jo ,” Papi says. “I understand you need to get used to the idea. But it would mean a lot to me if youcould learn to love Carmen. She thinks the world of you, you know.”
    Miguel nods but keeps his head down. She thinks the world of the whole world, he wants to say. But he knows that would hurt his papi .

    In the midafternoon, Papi and Carmen say their goodbyes. Miguel gives Carmen a goodbye handshake, which she turns into a heartfelt hug.
    “Hey, Miguel Ángel, thanks again for a wonderful visit!” she gushes.
    “Thank you for coming,” he says, glancing toward his mami .
    “I wouldn’t have missed it for the world!” Carmen gives him another hug.
    “It was fun,” Miguel concedes. It is hard to resist Carmen’s enthusiasm.
    At dinner, Mami queries them about “your breakfast meeting with your father.” It bugs Miguel how his parents talk about each other like they themselves were never related. Your mother. Your father.
    “He talked about learning from mistakes, like me not paying attention in class, but now I do,” Juanita says, going on to give a garbled account of how Papi learned so much from being married to Mami.
    “I’ll say,” Mami mutters. She doesn’t like to criticizetheir father in front of them, but sometimes she can’t help herself.
    “He said you’re the greatest!” Juanita adds.
    Mami replies with a hmph , then bites her lip to prevent any further criticism from coming out.
    “Ay, querida,” Tía Lola reminds her dear niece, “Daniel has grown up a lot. Remember, los tropezones hacen levantar los pies! ”
    “Stumbling might have taught him to pick up his feet, but meanwhile, what about the people he’s stepped on along the way?”
    Tía Lola must have a dozen sayings about forgiveness, but she says nothing. Sometimes you just have to let people express their hurt feelings. Mami would be the first to tell them that.
    Mami folds her napkin and places it beside her uneaten plate of food. Then she hurries from the room, wiping her eyes on her sleeve since she doesn’t have Tía Lola’s handkerchief handy.
    “Your mami will be just fine!” Tía Lola reassures them. “Those tears are just washing away the past so she can begin again, too.”
    “Did Papi really step on her, Tía Lola?” Juanita’s bottom lip is quivering.
    Tía Lola is shaking her head. “Let me put it this way: they both made the mistake of getting married too young. Afterward, they found out they disagreed on a whole bunch of things. But they would both agree on one thing: if they hadn’t made that mistake, they wouldhave missed out on having the two most wonderful kids! No hay mal que por bien no venga .”
    Every bad thing has something good in it.
    “Is that like ‘Every cloud has a silver lining’?” Juanita wants to know.
    Tía Lola looks surprised. “I had no idea that clouds had silver inside them.” This must be science she never learned because she never went past fourth grade. So Miguel and Juanita have to explain. It’s a saying, just like the ones she has been teaching them in Spanish.
    “Don’t you love sayings?” Tía Lola says after laughing at herself. “They really help you to remember wise things.”
    At the door, Mami has reappeared, her face shy with an apology. “Sorry, everybody. I just