Make Your Home Among Strangers: Chapter 4 Summary & Analysis

Lizet barely recognizes her mother’s new building—Lizet spent only three days in the new place at the end of the summer before heading off to Rawlings. Lizet approaches what she hopes is the right apartment and knocks—when no one comes to the door despite sounds of the television leaking through the door, Lizet announces her arrival, ruining the surprise she’d planned. Lizet’s sister, Leidy, opens the door and rudely asks what Lizet is doing home.

Lizet ignores her sister’s brusque tone, spotting Leidy’s baby, Dante, crawling around on the floor inside. Lizet fawns over the baby, and then, at the sound of her mother Lourdes’s voice inside, pushes her way into the apartment. Her mother, though, is not particularly excited to see her, either—she tells Lizet she’s supposed to be up at school, but then wraps her in an embrace and immediately begins asking what she can fix Lizet to eat. On the news there is coverage of a dirty, tanned little boy—it is Lizet’s first glimpse of Ariel Hernandez, who has beaten her to Miami by just a few hours.

As Lizet settles in, she realizes that her mother is in fact angry with her—Lourdes says that Lizet has “stolen” from her the chance to meet her daughter with flowers at the airport on her first trip home from college, and accuses Lizet of “lying” to her about her plans for weeks. Lizet tries to explain, but her mother is more focused on the breaking news about Ariel than anything her own daughter has to say. Leidy paces the room, bouncing Dante and trying to get him to fall asleep; she is skeptical about the news, and asks what makes Ariel so special—her mother explains that Ariel’s mother died on the journey from Cuba, and that he is alone in America save for a few paternal relatives.

Lizet, Leidy, and baby Dante go into Leidy’s room. Lizet begins unpacking while Leidy folds laundry and explains that their mother was too preoccupied with the Ariel Hernandez news to focus on having a “real” Thanksgiving, even though it was Dante’s first. Lizet doesn’t ask about Dante’s dad—Leidy is a single mother, and her high school sweetheart, Roly, is not involved in their child’s life. Lizet also doesn’t ask about her and Leidy’s own father, who is living elsewhere in Miami after separating from their mother just a few months earlier. They, too, had children just out of high school, and Lizet feels their relationship was forever frozen in their teenage years.

Leidy chides Lizet for not telling anyone she was coming home—it’s dangerous, she says, to not let anyone know where she is. Leidy and Lizet squabble for a moment, but Leidy admits she’s happy to have Lizet home. Leidy tells Lizet she has the day off work tomorrow; when Lizet replies, “Awesome,” Leidy laughs, and asks “what other stupid words” Lizet has picked up at school.