The Tequila Worm

Another student at her school, Marcos, is also chosen to take the scholarship tests. His father drives him and Sofia to the location for the testing. Sofia’s family continues to discuss the school. When Sofia returns to school after the entire day of testing, Mr. Thomas introduces her to a man from St. Luke’s. He tells Sofia she did very well on the test. Mr. Weld asks Sofia questions like what her favorite subject is in school and what sports she likes. Sofia finally figures out this is the interview. At the end of the interview, he extends an invitation to come to the school. She promises to speak to her parents and asks how much it will cost. He tells her most of it will be paid for, but her family will have to pay a little. He tells her it’s not very much—just $400.00 Sofia thinks $400.00 is a lot of money.

The next day, Mr. Weld visits Sofia’s family at her home. He flashes slides on the wall, and the more Sofia sees and hears, the more excited she gets. Berta and Lucy are there, too, looking at the slides. When Mr. Weld leaves, everyone is very quiet. Finally, Papa says he is very proud of her. He prompts Sofia’s mama to speak, and she grudgingly agrees with Sofia’s papa. She tells Sofia she must speak to her Tia Petra. Lucy and Berta remain quiet.

The next day, she visits her godmother, Tia Petra. All the furniture in Tia Petra’s house is covered in plastic. Sofia wants to tell her godmother that instead of worrying about getting her furniture dirty, she should enjoy it. When they speak about the boarding school, Sofia tells her tia about her parents’ reaction to the news. Tia Petra laughs and tells Sofia that, as her godmother, she has a say in Sofia’s education. She reminds Sofia that her education isn’t just about books and school. It’s about her “spiritual” education as well. Sofia asks Tia Petra if that also means that she must learn how to be a good comadre. Petra says yes, but she also explains there’s more to it than just being a good friend. It’s about being happy, too. Tia Petra asks Sofia to tell her about the school. After a while, Sofia’s parents and Lucy and Berta arrive. They all sit at the table, with Tia Petra at the helm. She tells Sofia, in front of everyone, how proud she is to be her godmother. For her godmother’s blessing, Sofia must work hard to be a good comadre, study hard, and write to her every week from Austin.

Sofia accidently spills her drink, and everyone jumps up, trying to keep the red liquid from penetrating past the plastic and into the carpet. Tia Petra manages to keep everything clean and expresses pride at her plastic protections. Then, she wraps Sofia in a roll of plastic and gives Sofia her blessing. “Yes! Believe in plastic,” Tia Petra says. “But you can’t keep Sofia sealed up. Let her go, if that’s her dream.” (58).

Before Sofia and her family leave, Tia Petra tells Berta she must be a good comadre to Sofia, which means supporting her dreams. Berta agrees to do that. As they drive home, Berta tells Sofia how very proud she is of her. Everyone stares at Berta in surprise. Sofia can’t believe it and feels that she has never loved Berta more. From then on, Sofia and Berta become true best friends and comadres.

Every Tuesday, Sofia’s papa cleans his pinto beans, an elaborate tradition of rinsing them, blowing them dry, and discarding the broken ones. Sofia joins him each Tuesday, and every time at least once, her papa squints hard at a bean and asks Sofia if she sees the image of Pancho Villa or Tia Petra, or any other saint, war hero or family friend, in the shape of the bean. Sofia loves this time with her papa, and now she tries to figure out how to convince him to support her desire to go to Saint Luke’s. After Papa cleans the beans, he cooks them in his prized possession, a clay pot with a red rooster on its side. Her papa always does the “bean dance,” getting up and checking on the beans as they cook, then sitting back down, only to get up again and check on the beans.

When Sofia’s mama arrives home from grocery shopping, she scolds her husband and daughter for sitting in the dark for hours without talking. She tells Sofia she should be more like Berta, who is out shopping for things for her quinceañera. As she is complaining, a vals (waltz) plays from the radio, and Sofia’s papa grabs her mama and begins to dance. Sofia is impressed: She had no idea her papa could dance so well. Sofia’s mama tells Sofia and Lucy that the song they danced to, Julia, was their wedding song.

As they work in the kitchen, Sofia tells her papa about being called a Taco Head. He commiserates with her, and she tells him it happened two years ago. He tells Sofia not to tell her mama. “…she’ll grab her machete and go after that big girl” (67). He tells Sofia her mama is a “huracán” (hurricane, force of nature). Sofia laments that she’s nothing like her mama, but her papa tells her she is like him—creative and spiritual. She asks her papa if he would let her go to Saint Luke’s. He tells her he wants her to be happy, and she says that going there would make her happy. He gives her his blessing saying, “You’re a dreamer, like me” (68). He reminds Sofia that being happy also means being a good comadre.

Sofia is worried about getting her mama’s consent, and her papa gives her advice on how to do it. He explains that her mama is a dancer, not a dreamer, and she needs things explained to her in a way that takes care of her, too. He tells Sofia that when she’d brought the host home in her shirt pocket, he had laughed and told Sofia’s mama that they should just keep it because it would bring angels all over the house to watch over them. But Mama felt like she had to talk to the priest. Instead of talking her out of it, because he knew Sofia would be scared talking to the priest, he went along with her mama so she could ease her mind. He explains how bad it would be if he told her to keep the host in the pocket on a hanger in the closet. She would “still be panic-stricken about having a now-moldy holy host in the closet” (70). It’s like a dance, he tells Sofia, and in order to convince her mama to support her, Sofia must learn to dance. After he says that, he grabs Sofia, and they dance outside on the lawn. 

Sofia goes to the drive-in with her family, plus Berta and her brother, Noe. When they settle, Mama moves the saints over and lights incense to get rid of the bugs. Lucy tells her mama to turn the saints the other way so they can see the movies, too.

When Sofia and Berta take the kids to the concession stand where the horses are, Sofia notices that Berta looks different. She is wearing make-up, a pretty dress, and her teeth look perfect all of a sudden instead of too big for her mouth the way they used to. She wonders to herself, “When did all this happen?” (75). Later, Sofia and Berta are walking around the grounds of the drive-in theater, and Sofia remembers when her mama told her she should be more like Berta.

She and Berta used to laugh at movies like the one her mama chose for that night’s drive-in. When Sofia and Berta and the two kids lie down under the stars, Sofia can tell Berta is upset. She asks Berta what’s wrong, and Berta says she likes the movie and wants to watch it. Sofia is shocked. “You want to watch the movie? Boy do I feel like I’ve missed a lot” (74). Berta says that yes, she has missed a lot. Berta returns to the car to watch the movie, and Sofia stays with Lucy and Noe outside. She lies down on her back and looks at the stars. She realizes she doesn’t want to stay a kid, but she also doesn’t want to be in the grown-up world like her mama and Berta, watching grown-up movies.

When they drop Berta off, Sofia feels bad that she wasn’t very nice to her comadre. She calls Berta and apologizes for not being much fun. Berta sounds hurt, then she announces that she has a boyfriend. Sofia is shocked. She jokes around with Berta, but then realizes that Berta wants her to take it seriously. So, like a good comadre, she asks Berta how she wants her (Sofia) to support her. Berta promises she will tell Sofia all about it in the morning. After she hangs up, Sofia thinks about the warning Tia Petra, gave her about how tricky it is to stay happy as you get older. Now, Sofia understands what she means. 

Berta runs into Sofia’s house. She teases Sofia for being a tomboy, but she wants Sofia to be her dama de honor (maid of honor) at her quinceañera. Sofia wants to be a good comadre, and she asks what else she can do. Berta tells her to act and look mature. Berta then explains to Sofia that her mama is helping her get her party together. She tells Sofia that her mama is helping her because she wants to learn what she needs to do for Sofia’s quinceañera. Sofia is surprised, since she’s told her mama over and over again she doesn’t want one. Berta tells Sofia she has to have a long dress and a boyfriend for the celebration, and Sofia reminds Berta that she has neither of these things.

When the two girls drive to the store in Berta’s old car, Berta explains to Sofia how planning for the quinceañera has taught her how to be a good comadre. It is also good practice for being a grown-up. She must learn how to get her godparents and others to sponsor her celebration financially, and she has to organize the court. She also had to speak to the priest, with no one to help her, about the spiritual part of the celebration. Berta then explains to Sofia that if she wants her mama’s approval to go to Saint Luke’s, she’s going to have to show her mama that she can take care of herself: “…to your mama, you’re still a kid” (84).

At the rehearsal, everyone is dressed up. Berta’s brother is Sofia’s chambelan (escort) and they will have to dance many of the dances together; polkas, waltzes, rancheras (folk dancing) and cumbias (Columbian dances). After Sofia dresses up in her floor-length gown, her mama sees how beautiful her daughter looks and tells Sofia she is pretty and so grown-up. This gives Sofia hope that in being a good comadre to Berta, and taking Berta’s quinceañera seriously, her mama might see her as grown up enough to go to boarding school.

When Sofia arrives home, her papa tells her about the first time he met her mama. It was at a dance in the plaza. He offers to teach Sofia the waltz, and the two of them practice on the lawn. The next day at Berta’s celebration, Sofia dances and supports her cousin. Later, she asks her mama for her blessing to go to Saint Luke’s, and after they talk, her mama says yes. Sofia then asks Lucy, and Lucy says yes. Sofia is touched, and she hugs her sister, promising to come home as often as possible. After that, Sofia’s papa says it’s time to eat the worm out of the tequila. The worm, he explains, will help Sofia not feel homesick. He fishes the worm out of the bottle and gives Sofia half to eat. Sofia takes the head of the worm and eats it. Her papa tells her he will send her a tequila worm in the mail to help her with her homesickness at her new boarding school. In that moment, Sofia realizes she’s been so busy trying to gather up the blessings from her family to go that she’s forgotten she will actually be leaving home.