How the García Girls Lost Their Accents

1. Carlos is at home in the Dominican Republic, before the family moves to New York. He notices two men with guns approaching the house. He sprints to his bedroom to hide in the closet, passing Yolanda on the way and warning her to keep quiet. A cook opens the door for the men, and Yolanda can tell from the tone of things that something serious is happening. The men sit down inside and question the girls. One of the men says that with four girls and no boys, their parents should put locks on the doors. Laughing, the man offers to show Sofia what might happen if she doesn’t lock her door. Sofia cries. Laura arrives home, to the girls’ relief. The cook throws powder on the ground and mumbles as she walks out of the house, and Yolanda knows she’s casting a spell.

Laura is terrified when she sees the black VW and the men at her house. They tell her they are looking for Dr. García, and that they will wait until he gets home. Laura knows these men joined the SIM only because they needed money, and they come from humble, rural backgrounds. Secretly, she sends a servant—Chino (named for the shape of his eyes)—to get Victor (Vic), who offered to help the family if they’re ever in trouble. Laura enters the house and the girls run to her. Once, Yolanda told a neighbor an invented story in which her father had a gun, and Laura beat Yolanda with a belt. Laura knows she shouldn’t have done it—she raises her kids “American style”—but the fear of the situation went to her head.

Laura makes a plate of food for the men while they wait. The men hesitate to eat, and Laura realizes it’s because they suspect that she poisoned the food. At Vic’s house, Doña Tatica answers the phone. She walks to Vic’s quarters and knocks on the door. He’s having sex inside. Vic is American, and he met Mundo when they were both studying at Yale. Vic lives in the Dominican Republic now, where he enjoys the “little girls” and the coffee. When Tatica calls him, Vic rushes to Mundo’s house. Vic finds Mundo and a few other men standing at the windows with guns. 

Since Laura told them to get out of the room with the men, Carla and Sandra are eating lunch at Tía Carmen and Tío Mundo’s house. Carla can tell that all the adults are on edge. She’s also heard rumors that the government is after her grandfather, Papito. Sometimes the police come to Papito’s house, and Tío Vic comes and gives the police money, and they leave. Carla’s mother warned not to tell anyone about this exchange between Vic and the police, but Carla doesn’t understand why. Vic comes out of the study where Mundo and his brothers are posted with guns. He asks Tía Carmen and the kids if they want to go to New York.

Laura is relieved to see Vic approach with Sandra and Carla. Vic tells the men that Carlos will be home soon, and that Carlos and his family will soon move to the U.S. because Carlos has a fellowship at a hospital in New York. Until Vic says this, Laura didn’t know that the family’s papers for the move had been approved yet. She realizes that she’s going to miss the Dominican Republic.

The two men’s names are Pupo and Checo. Earlier on the same day that they go to the García house, Checo attacks a man working at a corner store for no reason. Checo’s cruel behavior surprises Pupo, because they both grew up in religious and poor households. Checo and Pupo’s boss tells them to report on what they find at the García house, and Pupo knows that the future of their jobs might rely on what they report. When Laura says that her husband knows Vic, who works for the American embassy, Pupo thinks she’s lying. “The gringo” finally appears, to Pupo’s shock, and says that he knows Pupo and Checo’s boss. Vic calls the men’s supervisor on the phone and says that the Garcías will leave the country within two days. 

Laura instructs her daughters to pack their things for the U.S. She tells them to choose one toy each to bring, but Sandra has trouble deciding on one object that can fill “the hole that [is] opening wide inside” her. As years go on, she will find that nothing ever fills that hole, though she tries to fill it through her accomplishments, looks, and romantic relationships.

Hiding in the closet, Carlos can only hear bits of what’s happening in the house. He considers that the muffled impressions he hears are like memories from early childhood. He is the youngest of 35 siblings, though they don’t all share a mother. Most of his childhood memories are heavily influenced by the stories his siblings tell about their own memories. From the closet, Carlos hears Victor talking to Laura. Vic is not actually a consul for the American embassy—he is a CIA agent and he’s in the country on a mission to gather information about the dictator.

2. Sofia doesn’t remember much from the last day on the Island, but her sisters fill her in on what happened. All she remembers is an interaction with Chucha, the cook who opened the door for the secret police. Chucha was from Haiti and she never showed any emotion. When Chucha was young, she showed up at the girls’ grandparents’ house looking for refuge from the massacre. They took her in as a maid. Chucha never left the house and prayed constantly. She’s worked for the family for many years.

The girls are packing up to go to the U.S., and Chucha enters the room. Chucha is always doing voodoo and casting spells on the other maids. She tells the girls that she, too, left her country when she was young. She shows the girls a small statue of a man that she brought from Haiti. It has a cup of water above it, and small channels carved into its face. The water evaporates and drips into the channels, so that the man appears to be crying. Chucha prays over the girls as the water drips down the statue, and all four of them cry. They sense an ending. 

After the family leaves, Chucha worries about them living in the States, because Americans are so pale that they look dead, or like zombies. Chucha thinks that hardship awaits the Garcías. The other maids leave, and only Chino and Chucha are left. Chucha will take care of the García house and work for Carmen until Carmen’s family also goes to the U.S. Chucha hears voices from santos and loas telling her that the García house will eventually decay, and the police will rob it of the family’s belongings. Chucha prays for the family. She goes to sleep in a coffin that Laura reluctantly had made upon Chucha’s request so that she could accustom herself to death.