Once Again

Chapter 20

"Oh mi'ja. What happened?" Mama sounds like she wants to cry. She looks at the back of my head. I have a big chunk of hair missing. The runs her fingers through it.

"We need to get this fixed. Who did this?" She looks at me with anguish in her eyes.

"Emily cut my hair when we had nap session." I told her.

"She does not like me. She has told me to go back to where I belong." Mama now has tears in her eyes.

"Ay mi niña. Why would she say this?" I just shrug. Mama takes me to the Patrones' home. She knocks on their door. Maria comes out.

"Hola Anise. Come in."

We walk in and ask for Mrs. Garrett. She comes in seconds later.

"Hello Anise. Hello Marcela." She catches sight of my head.

"Oh dear. What happened Marcela?" She looks at my head.

"We need to get this fixed. Lets go to town. She grabs her keys and takes us to town. She pulls into a plaza. She walks us into a shop with people cutting hair. She talks to the receptionist. She looks at me. She tells us to go sit in the chairs. Minutes later a lady calls us to a high chair. She doesn't ask us any questions and gets to cutting with her scissors. I see long pieces of hair falling to the ground. I get teary. I had to get my hair cut to fit in with what Emily had cut off. Minutes later the lady spins me around to the mirror. I look and see someone who isn't me. She had straight short hair just above her shoulders. It looked short in some areas than it did in others. That was not me. That was someone else. I didn't want to believe it was me. Mrs. Heather smiles and points her thumbs up. Mama wants to cry just like I do. Mama had made me grow out my hair as a tradition. All the girls in my family had long hair. I was the first to break the long lived tradition. I felt like I went against them. We walk out the shop and drive back home. She drives us all the way to our cabin. Mama and I walk inside, where Papa and Chano wait for us. Daniel runs to Mama. Papa looks at me shocked. It looks like he also wants to cry.

"Que te paso? What happened to you."

"An American girl cut her hair at school. La Patrona took us to get it evened out." Papa looks at me worried. Chano does too. I want to cry because they are looking at me. I never hated anyone but I hate Emily so much.

The next day Mama goes to La Patrona's home. She demands that I get taken out of school. She does not want me at school after what happened. Heather gives Mama a sad look.

"I am sorry Anise. That will be done. But there is something else. You will be asked to leave here also. An immigration agent has came by and before they can come back, Mr. Garrett has asked everyone to leave. We will drop you guys off at another city." Mama is shocked. She doesn't say anything and walks out of the Patrona's house. We walk back to our cabin. Papa and Chano are outside waiting for us.

"We have to leave, Anise." Papa tells her. She nods. We all go inside and gather our stuff. Minutes later Mr. Garrett comes by in a truck. We all follow Papa into the truck. I sit next to Chano. We drove away into the night. I look back to the field. It looks so big now that I see it. I look out and see Elizabeth outside her house, waving at us. I wave back. My only friend that I had made, I had now lost.