When I Was Puerto Rican

Soon, Esmeralda has another sibling when Mami gives birth to her new brother, Raymond. There are now so many children that Mami has to work in order to sustain them all. While preparing for work, she puts on heels and makeup. She asks Esmeralda how she looks. Esmeralda wants to cry. Her mother looks so unnatural, and she hates that she has to dress a certain way just to leave the house, as if the way she had always looked was not good enough to impress anyone.

Mami begins leaving the children with a neighbor named Gloria. Gloria and Esmeralda have enriching and provocative conversations about what it means to be a woman. Then, Gloria moves in with a man and Mami goes without work for two weeks. Afterwards, Mami is talking with Doña Lola when her son, Tato, comes in. Tato is a year older than Esmeralda, and “runs wild.” He constantly pesters Esmeralda to show him her private parts, and he shows her his penis behind a building on the property. She eventually grows so uncomfortable with this that she kicks him in the shin when he grabs her crotch.