A Dream Called Home

Reyna recalls her romance with Eddie, a member of Los Mejicas. Eddie is a Mexican immigrant and Reyna’s only steady college boyfriend. He is a good dancer, seductive, funny, and popular with women without being macho. In other words, he is unlike the men she normally dates. At 22, Eddie is still a virgin. His commitment to saving himself until marriage makes Reyna ashamed of her sexual history.

Eddie invites Reyna to his hometown in Mexico. Reyna assumes he wants to take their relationship to the next level, but on the bus ride from Guadalajara to his sister’s house, he tells her he just wants to be friends. Despite her broken heart, Reyna spends the following days exploring the area with Eddie and his relatives, crying herself to sleep at night. After a few days, she makes the 13-hour trip to Iguala. Reyna’s aunt plays love songs to comfort her, while Abuelita Chinta shares the story of her first love. When she was young, Abuelita Chinta ran away with a peasant named Eliseo, but her father and brothers dragged her home and threatened to kill him if she went back. As punishment, they sent her to work at her brother’s cantina where she met her husband, an older man who put a knife to her throat and threatened to kill her if she didn’t “become his woman” (148).