Chapter Synopsis
They continue the next morning, and Tacho is fever-ridden and swollen. Nayeli encourages him and the car, for it is just as sick as he is, clanking and banging with every second, but she cannot drive because she does not have a license. They stop at every rest stop or gas station for Tacho to throw up and he is amazed each time that he has more left in him.
They finally arrive in Kankakee, and find signs written in Spanish as well as English. They are ecstatic to find that Mexicans live and are accepted here. They arrive downtown and stop in a motel. Tacho is bedridden and exhausted, so Nayeli decides to go out herself. She gets some 7-up for Tacho and dinner for herself in the lobby and finds out she can make long-distance phone calls from her room. She heads back, showers, and calls Irma.
Irma tells her Yolo has decided to stay in the US with Matt, but Matt has confessed to her that he doesn’t want Yolo to stay. She say seventy men showed up for the job, and they ended up taking twenty-seven. She declares they need more men than the original seven to save their town, but it’s up to Nayeli to get them back as she’s flying back with Chava. Nayeli tells her the car is broken, and Irma suggests she take a bus back and says she will figure something out for the original seven, but the other twenty will have to find their own way back. She casually reveals that she is sending an associate from Tecuala to San Diego to interview the rest of the seventy. She is also planning a way to bring more men from Los Angeles and Chicago. Nayeli tells her she feels weak and useless. She feels she has failed her part of the mission. Irma tells her she is stronger than she will ever be. She assures her she is La Osa and tough and strong, but she is only that person in Tres Camarones. She is not the hero of the big world that Nayeli is. They hang up and Tacho awakens. Nayeli soothes him back to sleep.
