Into the Beautiful North

In the morning, Nayeli walks to a drive-through taco shop and asks the man if he knows her father. He suggests she go to the library and assures her that everyone likes Mexicans in Kankakee. Nayeli walks downtown to the huge silver building. She passes a group of Mexican kids and steps through the doors. All the books and computers make her feel extremely rural, but she feels too embarrassed to walk past the Mexican kids again. She sits down and looks around.

Nayeli makes eye contact with a woman behind the counter, and the woman smiles. Nayeli goes to a computer and searches for Tres Camarones, and the woman comes over and asks Nayeli if she needs help. The woman's nametag says Mary-Jo, and Nayeli tells her that she's looking for her father. A young man walks by and says that Mary-Jo runs the city, but Mary-Jo explains to Nayeli that she's not the mayor.

Mary-Jo leads Nayeli behind her desk and calls the police. Nayeli is alarmed, but Mary-Jo assures her that it will be fine. She offers Nayeli a cookie, and soon, a Mexican-American officer shows up. Nayeli explains she's looking for her father, and the cop dials around as Mary-Jo says brightly that she loves Mexico. After a half hour, the cop jots down an address on a sticky note and says that Don Pepe might be in the north end of town. Mary-Jo offers to drive Nayeli there, and Nayeli thinks she loves Kankakee.

Mary-Jo agrees to drop Nayeli off down the block from Don Pepe's house and sends her off with a hug. Nayeli studies the houses on the street as she walks and gets to a dead end. Beyond is a field and the highway. Nayeli turns back and wonders if her father shares a house with other men. She imagines him picking her up and laughing when he sees her, and she laughs as she thinks of her trip. She decides the entire thing was worth it.

A big Dodge truck passes Nayeli. It has stickers of the American and Mexican flags in the back window, and it stops on the street. A round woman gets out of the passenger side and fishes a toddler out of the backseat, and Nayeli starts walking towards her to ask after Don Pepe. Nayeli stops in her tracks when she sees Don Pepe get out of the driver's seat. He kisses the woman and leads her to the house, slapping her bottom as she crosses the threshold. Nayeli stands for a moment and then races to the field. She cries there for an hour, and then tucks her postcard under Don Pepe's windshield wiper and walks away.