Mañanaland

Max takes his dog Lola on a walk to the ruins. Max searches the ruins and finds the key to open the tower. He takes the stairs to where he saw the stone markings. There are hundreds of names and messages carved on the walls, showing the vast number of people who fled war and oppression through Santa Maria. The wind blows, sounding like a lullaby.

Max finds his mother’s maiden name carved on a stone, along with a message:

RENATA ESTEBAN

MY EYES ON MAÑANALAND

my heart in Santa Maria (117).

Max realizes his mother must have been a hidden one escaping Abismo with the Brigade of Women. This explains why she was allowed to travel onward with other hidden ones, when guardians have a strict code of not traveling beyond to the next spot. Max begins to worry about the cruel ways the community might treat his family if they knew his mother was a hidden one and his family were guardians. “[W]ould some of the boys throw rocks and spit at Max and hate him? Would he and his family be driven out of their own village?” he thinks (118). As Max and Lola walk home, it starts to rain, reflecting Max’s gloomy