Mexican WhiteBoy

Uno’s biological father is introduced. Once a month, Senior leaves his “whole new family” (30) in Oxnard to drive to San Diego to visit Uno. During their time together, Senior imparts fatherly wisdom to his son. Since Senior’s last visit, Uno has gotten into trouble twice, both times through his use of violence. The first time he beat up Danny, and the other, he “gave some frat dude a beat-down outside Horton Plaza Mall” (30). Uno lands in jail, and his mother doesn’t pick him up until the following day, at which time Uno overhears her asking the officer, “what happens if I refuse to take my son back?” (31).

Senior tells Uno to look him in the eye and that “the answers [are] in the pupils of men who seek the path to wisdom” (31). He digresses into a one-man conversation about doctors prescribing Ritalin to control patients and that a wise man “don’t just consider the shit he sees…he considers what’s behind the shit he sees” (31). Senior may speak some truth, but his credibility has been called into question by Uno’s mom. She disparages Senior to Uno and has also told Uno about his grandfather’s robust criminal record.