The Book of Unknown Americans: Chapter 13: Alma Summary & Analysis

It is December, and the days are “long and cold.” The Riveras, struggling to adjust to the winter temperatures, run the heat in their apartment all the time—but when they receive a dangerously steep electric bill that they’ll never be able to pay, they keep the heat down and instead “huddle by the radiators for warmth.”

Trying to focus on the positive, Alma and Arturo rejoice over the fact that Maribel is laughing more often, now, and seems less confused about the day-to-day aspects of her life. Her school reports have improved, as well. Alma continues to worry about Maribel, though. Alma has become much more insecure about her daughter’s safety in the wake of the accident.

Alma notices that Maribel has “developed a sort of friendship” with Mayor, but she insists that the two only spend time together at one another’s apartments, and only when supervised. One day, cooking while Maribel spends time at Mayor’s, Alma loses track of time. When she looks at the clock it is past five, and she knows Maribel should have been home already—she runs out of the apartment and scans the parking lot for a sign of her daughter.

Alma heads over to the Toros’ apartment, but as she reaches the staircase, she hears a boy’s laughter. She finds Maribel’s sunglasses on the sidewalk and grows uneasy. She turns a corner and sees Maribel pushed up against the wall, her hands over her head—Garrett Miller is holding her wrists in place, and Maribel’s shirt is hiked up over her bra. Alma screams, and rushes to place herself between Garrett and Maribel. Garrett squeezes Alma’s arm and yells at her in English, while Alma screams at Maribel to return to the apartment. Maribel stays frozen in place. Alma tears herself away from Garrett and drags Maribel back upstairs and inside. Alma is grateful that she got to Maribel in time to stop anything worse from happening. 

That night at dinner, Arturo asks Alma what’s wrong—he can sense that something is off. Alma does not answer him—she is not planning on telling him what happened, as she does not want him to know that she has failed Maribel for a second time. She knows that Maribel is okay—she asked her all about the incident once they were safe inside, and Maribel reported that Garett had not touched her, kissed her, or hurt her—at least “this time.”

Arturo urges Alma to snap out of her mood and to “believe [she is] entitled to happiness.” Alma sips her tea and thinks about the approaching Christmas holiday. She remembers a Christmas Eve two years previous, when Maribel made buñuelos—fried dough balls—for the entire family all by herself. Alma remembers that as Maribel served her creation at dinner that night, she herself had envisioned Maribel’s future—“the family she would have one day and the food she would make for them.” In that moment Alma could so clearly picture Maribel’s “entire life in front of her, waiting.”