The Distance Between Us

It is January of 1980, and Reyna’s mother is preparing to leave on a trip to El Otro Lado. Mami, an Avon saleslady, often leaves Reyna alone or with her mother, whom Reyna calls Abuelita Chinta, when she goes out on the town. This time, though, Reyna can sense that her mother is going on a longer trip and will not be back for a long time—Reyna has no idea, though, that after her mother leaves, she will never “really” get her back.

Reyna’s Mami ushers Reyna, Mago, and Carlos out of the house they’ve been renting—the children are going to stay with their paternal grandmother, Abuela Evila. As the children round up their belongings, Reyna takes from a box a framed picture of her papi, insisting on taking it with her to her grandmother’s house, despite the fact that there are many photos of her father there already.

Reyna, now four, was only two years old when her father left for the United States during the “worst recession Mexico had seen in fifty years.” He went to “El Otro Lado” to make money so that he could build his family a dream house—as a bricklayer, he spent most of his life building homes for other people, and he now longs to build his own house for himself and his family. Having fared poorly in the United States, Papi has now sent for Mami to join him and hopefully double their income to fund the dream house.

Mami and the children arrive at Abuela Evila’s large house. Mago and Carlos beg not to have to stay with the “angry” Evila and instead ask to stay with Mami’s mother, Abuelita Chinta, but Reyna doesn’t want to stay with either grandmother—she only wants her mother, and begins asking to be taken along to El Otro Lado, too.

Mami tells Reyna to stop whining and calls out from the gate for Abuela Evila. As Evila emerges from the house, Reyna looks at her grandmother, an old woman with silver hair whose body is shriveled and wasted from a childhood bout of measles. Evila greets Mami and the children brusquely, asking how long they’ll be staying and reminding Mami of her promise to send money weekly for their upkeep.

Evila assures Mami that soon she and Papi will raise enough money to build their dream house, and she points out her daughter María Félix’s house nearby. Though it was finished long ago and is one of the biggest on the block, María Félix remains in El Otro Lado, and has left her own daughter Élida in Evila’s care.

Reyna, Mago, and Carlos beg their mother one last time to stay behind, insisting that they don’t need a dream house—they just need their parents. Mami insists she must go, and promises to return. She urges the children to head inside, and Evila opens the gate for them. Mami kisses Reyna goodbye one final time, leaving a lipstick print on her cheek. The three of them watch, crying, as a taxi takes their mother away.