The Tori Trilogy by Alicia Danielle Voss-Guillén Page B

nearer and nearer to the Chicago city limits, the houses and yards change again. Now they’re really small, and so close together that you could lean out your window and your next-door neighbor could lean out hers, and you’d be able to shake hands! A lot of the houses, like Abuelito and Abuelita’s, are brown-brick and have only one room upstairs. A long time ago I asked Dad why the houses were like that, and he said they’re called “bungalows.”
    At longest last, Auntie Luz turns onto Clementine Street, and we are able to see our grandparents’ house, the very last one on the left.
    Auntie Luz walks Gina and me to the front door, balancing Sofie on her hip beneath the big umbrella. Before she has a chance to ring the bell, Abuelita pulls it wide open.
    â€œMy darlings!” she cries in her heavily accented, but very good, English. “Come in, come in!” She steps aside to let us into the house, and then she takes Gina’s and my bags and jackets and starts to make a fuss over all of us.
    Like Abuelito, she’s in her seventies, healthy and full of life. She’s small, with shining eyes and hair that used to be dark-brown but now is gray, twisted into a roll at the back of her head. Her soft caramel-colored skin is creased with wrinkles. Abuelita is very dignified, “a true lady,” Mom says. Even the way she walks is elegant.
    Now she wraps Gina and me up in her arms, kissing our cheeks, and greets Auntie Luz and Sofie the same way.
    Sofie is happy and excited, waving her arms and crying, “Lita, Lita!”
    Auntie Luz laughs. “I think Sofie wishes she could spend the night, too,” she remarks. “But she’d miss her mami and papi at bedtime, wouldn’t you, baby?”
    My little cousin hugs Auntie Luz’s neck, agreeing.
    â€œSomeday when you are older, cariño .” Abuelita drops an extra kiss on Sofie’s chubby cheek. She turns to Gina and me, winking to let us know she’ll be right with us and that our special time together will soon begin. Then she turns back to Auntie Luz, who is her youngest daughter, and they chat for a few minutes, half in English, half in Spanish.
    Partway through their conversation, Abuelito comes down from the bedroom upstairs, whistling a tune. Abuelito is always in a good mood, always smiling. Nothing gets him down for too long, which is part of what makes him so much fun. He’s shorter and heavier than Dad, with skin the same color as Abuelita’s, but more leathery. His eyes are deep-brown, and his hair is thick and white, but Dad tells me it used to be blacker than black.
    He comes up behind Gina and me, grabbing us by our waists and pulling us into one of his well-known bear hugs. For an old man, Abuelito is strong, and after Gina and I hug him and he refuses to let us go, we struggle against him for a minute, laughing and trying to escape.
    Finally, he lets us break away, and then goes over to greet Auntie Luz and Sofie.
    After what seems like a million years, Auntie Luz hugs and kisses Gina and me goodbye, and we hug and kiss her back, and hug and kiss Sofie, too. “Have fun, girls,” my aunt says, tugging the hood of Sofie’s jacket over her short curls. “We’ll let you know tomorrow who’ll be picking you up.”
    And finally, she’s off. Gina and I have Abuelito and Abuelita all to ourselves. Let the weekend begin!

Chapter Two
    Abuelita shuts the door behind Auntie Luz and Sofie, and turns to face Gina and me. “Why do we not sit by the fire?” she suggests, waving us into the cozy living room. I notice that red-orange flames crackle noisily over logs in the brick fireplace.
    Realizing how chilly we are, Gina and I hurry to sit by the hearth. Abuelito settles into one of the armchairs on either side of the fireplace, but Abuelita doesn’t sit yet.
    Instead, she beams a knowing smile at my cousin and me and says, “You girls must be