We Were Here

This photo depicts a flat landscape that includes palm trees and a chicken-wire fence. It appears immediately prior to a section describing the shed where Miguel and Rondell sleep during their stay with Miguel’s paternal grandparents.

Miguel describes the conditions of the shed in which he and Rondell are recuperating from hard physical labor. Miguel infers that the boys are both doing landscaping work for “Gramps,” his paternal grandfather. He notes that his “grandparents don’t really seem like they want me here. Especially my gramps” (323). The boys’ plan is to earn enough money to repay the Lighthouse money and then leave.

Miguel’s grandfather has not engaged in conversation with Miguel. He merely hands the boys tools and directs them to a worksite. Miguel considers the situation from his grandfather’s perspective: his son died in the military and then there is “the terrible thing that happened in Stockton” (324). Miguel recalls that Diego had always been their grandparents’ favorite. 

Miguel writes that the situation with Gramps deteriorates further when they actually begin working together; he barely acknowledges the boy at all. When Miguel is assigned to shovel debris left by his grandfather as he digs a trench, he has difficulty keeping up with the older man.