Return to Sender

Interrobang Farm. Mr. Bicknell teaches his students about the interrobang—a punctuation mark combining a question mark and an exclamation point (‽) indicating surprise—in class, which is fitting because April is a month of surprises. Tyler enjoys working for Mr. Rossetti, who turns out to be much nicer once Tyler gets to know him better. Mr. Rossetti even starts getting attached to Mari, Ofie, and Luby, who often come along with Grandma to pick Tyler up. (No one bothers, however, to correct his erroneous belief that all three girls are American.)

Then, one day, Mr. Cruz comes to the house to talk to Mom and Dad—privately. Afterward, they won’t tell Tyler what was going on, but he learns from Grandma that the coyotes who were supposed to help Mamá cross the border have been holding her hostage and are asking for a $3,000 ransom. Tyler blanches. That’s a lot of money. He asks Grandma if she can hold a bake sale, but she says she’d never be able to make enough that way.

But there are other ways to make money, and when Tyler shows up at Mr. Rossetti’s house for work the next day, he finds Grandma there already, asking Mr. Rossetti for a loan. Mr. Rossetti is torn. On the one hand, he’s adamantly opposed to illegal immigration. On the other, he has a soft spot for Grandma and has been working hard to get her to notice him.

When Grandma brings Tyler back to the farm, they stop by the trailer where Mari informs them that the coyotes have dropped their price to just $1,500. Mari wonders if they’re getting nervous about harboring too many illegal immigrants as the political situation is becoming more fraught. Tyler understands; the nightly news has been covering big, nationwide protests in favor of making the laws friendlier to immigrants. It’s making some people nervous. In fact, in light of the protests in Washington, D.C., the 4-H club has cancelled its trip.

And the trip getting cancelled isn’t the only bad surprise, either. The coyotes call back with one final deal. Now they’re offering to bring Mamá up to North Carolina, but they’ve upped the price again by $500. Tyler doesn’t even think twice. He has that much money saved up for the trip, and he goes straight out to the barn to loan it to Mr. Cruz. 

But perhaps the biggest surprise of all comes from Aunt Roxie and Uncle Tony, who offer to take Tyler and some friends a personal trip to Washington, D.C. over spring break to make up for missing Tyler’s birthday. Tyler is appreciative, but he has another destination in mind. He asks them if they’d like to see lovely Durham, North Carolina instead. So, with Mr. Cruz’s permission, Tyler, Sara, and Mari set out with Aunt Roxie and Uncle Tony to bring Mamá home.

Queridos Papá, Tío Armando, Ofie y Luby. On April 22, 2006, Mari writes a letter to Papá, Tío Armando, Ofie, and Luby, describing the trip. Aunt Roxie and Uncle Tony are kindhearted people. The only trouble they face on their trip down is repeated calls from Mrs. Paquette, who is worried sick about their mission. Mari doesn’t admit it aloud, but she is worried, too. In Durham, they get two hotel rooms, one for Tyler and Uncle Tony, and the other for Aunt Roxie, Mari, and Sara. But Mari is too nervous to sleep.

The next morning, Aunt Roxie and Uncle Tony drive Mari, Tyler, and Sara to the bus station the coyotes specified. It’s in a seedy part of town, not too far from where the Cruz family used to live. Borrowing Aunt Roxie’s phone, Mari calls the coyotes, who tell her to wait in the station for a gray van to pull up. Then she is supposed to bring out the money. Tyler leads everyone into the station so that Mari doesn’t have to wait alone. She’s grateful for the way he always seems to understand the situation without explanation.

When the van arrives, Mari goes out alone and hands her envelope of cash to the rude, stressed-looking Mexican man inside. She catches a glimpse of Mamá in the backseat before the coyote rolls up the window to count the money. When he has verified that it is the correct amount, he gestures for Mari to go around to the other side of the van. Terrified lest they kidnap her while she’s out of sight of her waiting friends, yet desperate to be reunited with her mother, Mari complies. The coyotes dump Mamá out of the van and tear off before she can even grab the bag with her meager possessions.

While Mari is outside, Tyler is inside the station confessing to Aunt Roxie and Uncle Tony that they’re not meeting friends but the human smugglers who have been holding Mamá hostage. Under the circumstances, no one wastes any time hanging around after the coyotes leave. Mamá slowly calms down in the car as Mari shows photographs of Ofie, Luby, Papá, and Tío Armando on the farm and the pictures of Tío Felipe, Abuelote, and Abuelota that Alyssa brought back from Mexico. She explains that Papá took the family to Vermont for steadier work, and how kind the Paquettes have been.

As they drive back toward their hotel, Mamá tells Mari what happened to her over the past 16 months. The original coyotes whom Papá had paid to help her cross the border got held up by another gang who kidnapped her. She became, in her very careful words, the “servant” of the new gang’s head smuggler. When he had returned to Mexico, about eight months earlier, he left Mamá under the supervision of his careless brother, who paid so little attention that she had been able to start sneaking phone calls. With this admission, Mari realizes that Mamá was the mysterious caller! Then, more recently, the head smuggler’s wife visited found out about Mamá and was very displeased. She insisted that her husband get rid of her. That was when the coyotes called and offered to return her in exchange for $3,000. Mari knows Mamá is leaving out the most painful parts of the story.

That afternoon, Aunt Roxie takes Sara (who has been desperate to go shopping), Mari, and Mamá to the mall, where they buy Mamá necessities like underwear and a toothbrush. Then she and Uncle Tony take everyone out to a Mexican restaurant, hoping that familiar foods will make Mamá feel more comfortable. Mamá is grateful but haunted by nightmares that night and every other one.

The most wonderful surprise of all is when Uncle Tony and Aunt Roxie stop for a day and a half in Washington, D.C. on the way home. Tyler, Mari, Sara, and Mamá visit the National Air and Space Museum where they sit in a planetarium and learn about the stars. They visit the National Mall and see the Vietnam War Memorial, which is a sad and solemn place honoring soldiers who left their families (like the swallows in the song) and never returned. They even tour the White House! The whole time, Mari is hoping to catch a glimpse of the president and wondering if he ever read her letter. Then they head back to Boston for one last overnight before heading home. It’s there that Mari writes the letter (presented in this chapter), which she will give to her family the next day when they arrive.