Sabrina & Corina: Stories

Kali Fajardo-Anstine’s short story collection Sabrina & Corina (2019) centers the lives of Latinx, Indigenous women and their daily struggles, including poverty, racism, and addictions of various kinds. All of the stories take place in Colorado.

Plot Summary

In “Sugar Babies,” preteen Sierra struggles with coming to terms with her mother, who was a teen mother who abandoned her when she was a child. In school, Sierra is forced to participate in an exercise in which she and a randomly assigned boy must care for a sugar baby in place of a real baby. “Sabrina & Corina” tells of two cousins who were raised together as if they were sisters, and how their lives alternately parallel and diverge from one another. “Sisters” depicts the lives of two divergent sisters, Doty and Tina Lucero. They live together in a small apartment, but Tina is determined to marry a White man to transcend her racial and social station. On the other hand, Doty is in love with Lucia Barrera, a local Filipina woman who has gone missing. Doty has no interest in finding a man to marry, but she also cannot maintain financial stability if she cannot live with her sister, who will soon be married.

Clarisa narrates “Remedies.” As a child, Clarisa lived with her mother, Millie. Clarisa’s father was a White man who abandoned both her and Millie, and who also had a White son named Harrison by another woman. Harrison is one year younger than Clarisa, and when they are 12 and 13, respectively, Millie begins inviting Harrison over to spend weekends with them. Harrison, who lives in a dilapidated building with his mother, brings lice into the home. In desperation, Millie and Clarisa visit Grandma Estrella for a cure. As Grandma Estrella successfully prepares the remedy and bathes both Millie and Clarisa’s heads, she convinces Millie to stop picking up Harrison. Grandma Estrella knows that Millie is involving herself in Harrison’s life in a misguided attempt to draw nearer to her estranged husband. Millie acquiesces, and Harrison’s visits cease.

“Julian Plaza” tells the story of the Atencio family, which includes parents Nayeli and Ramón and their two daughters, Alejandra and Cora. Ramón works as a custodian at the local retirement community called Julian Plaza. When Nayeli is diagnosed with breast cancer, Ramón begins selling stolen and salvaged items out of his garage to pay a local woman named Miss Cynthia to house and care for Nayeli. One day, Cora enlists Alejandra to attempt to take Nayeli from Miss Cynthia’s home, as she believes that the family can better care for her mother. The girls attempt to lift their semi-conscious mother and drag her from the home, but they are quickly stopped when Nayeli cries out in pain, and Miss Cynthia ends their endeavor. Soon after this, though, their garage is burglarized, and Ramón loses his means to pay Miss Cynthia. Nayeli is forced to come home.

In “Galapago,” the elderly Pearla lives in the home on Galapago Street that she purchased with her now-deceased husband Avel. The couple, each the first property-owners in their respective families, proudly inhabited the home for many decades. In the present day, however, gentrification has forced everyone Pearla once knew out of the neighborhood and off of Galapago street. Pearla and Avel also experienced two break-ins in their home, which led to Pearla boarding up their bedroom window and purchasing a pistol. When Pearla encounters a 19-year-old, White, drug-addicted intruder in her home in the middle of the night, she shoots him dead. After this incident, she is forced to relocate to a retirement home. Right before Pearla moves out, she removes the board from her window, flooding the room with light.

“Cheesman Park” tells the story of a young woman named Liz, who grew up with her mother in Colorado but relocated to Los Angeles when she was 19. When Liz’s aspirations of fame and romance do not pan out in Los Angeles, she returns to her mother’s home in Colorado. While there, she meets a young widow named Monica, who has recently lost her husband, Bruce. Unbeknownst to Liz, a local homeless man living in Cheesman Park pilfers a leather jacket from the boxes containing Bruce’s things. On a late-night drive with Monica, Liz sees a man slumped on the sidewalk: He is the homeless man from the park, and he’s wearing Bruce’s jacket. Monica is enraged and beats the homeless man savagely; Liz stops her. Liz then quietly returns to her life with her mother.

In “Tomi,” Cole is a young woman who has been released from prison. Her brother, Manny, has volunteered to house her in the home that he shares with his son, Tomi. Manny’s wife, Natalie, has recently abandoned the family to live with a White man in a different part of town. Cole quickly sees that Tomi is struggling with reading and begins to tutor him. During a trip to the library, Tomi slips away from her and runs to the house where he knows his mother is now living. Both Cole and Manny eventually make their way there to retrieve Tomi, and a physical altercation involving Natalie and Cole ensues.

“Any Further West” tells the story of Neva and her mother Desiree, who is living with an undiagnosed psychiatric condition. Desiree and Neva move to San Diego. In the absence of employment, Desiree begins a romantic relationship with the landlord Casey so that they will not have to pay rent. When Casey doesn’t show up to take Desiree and Neva on a planned Christmas trip to Mission Beach, Desiree flies into a rage and wants to return to Colorado. In the morning, however, an apologetic Casey convinces Desiree to take the trip to Mission Beach after all. Throughout the story, Neva intimates that her mother died at a young age, but we are never told how or why.

In “All Her Names,” Alicia lives a double life. She is married to a White man named Gary and is having an affair with an old boyfriend from her youth named Michael. Alicia is pregnant but is keeping it a secret. One night, when Gary is away at a convention, she meets up with Michael. At her request, they stop at a botanica, where she purchases an herbal contraction meant to induce an abortion. She tells Michael the truth about her pregnancy. When they are waylaid by a pair of police officers, Alicia feeds the officer a story about them being newlyweds, overjoyed and caught up in the moment at the news that they will be having their first child.

In “Ghost Sickness,” Ana is nervous about failing her college history class. Ana’s mother reminds her of her own Navajo ancestry to encourage her and remind her that she carries history within her own blood, which might help her pass her class. Ana’s history lecturer, Professor Brown, speaks about “ghost sickness,” a “culture-bound syndrome” that causes a loss of appetite, fear, and hallucinations. One day, while she is taking a bath, Ana sees a vision of Clifton driving down a mountain road and swerving when a bear crosses his path; Clifton’s car plunges off the road and down into a canyon. Ana knows that Clifton is dead. On the day of her history final exam, Ana answers all of the multiple choice questions and feels that she will likely fail the course. However, the extra credit question asks the student to relay the Navajo origin story of humanity. She recalls a tender time between her and Clifton, during which he soothed her by telling her that very tale.