We Are Not from Here

The first chapter switches to the viewpoint of a 15-year-old boy, Pulga. (Each subsequent chapter is labeled with the name of the viewpoint character.) Pulga’s mother, Consuelo, says that he has the heart of an artist, but Pulga knows that “An artist’s heart doesn’t help you survive” (6) in his town of Puerto Barrios, Guatemala. Pulga lives with his mother and a good friend, 13-year-old Chico, who lost his own mother in a violent shooting. As the action commences, Pulga tries to coach Chico to curse more effectively, as Chico is rather soft-spoken. Consuelo gets a phone call and learns that her best friend Lucia’s daughter, Pequeña, is in labor. Pequeña is 17 years old and like a cousin to Pulga because of their mothers’ close friendship. Pulga believes that Pequeña refuses to go to the hospital for the birth because she does not want the baby; Pequeña told no one about the pregnancy for five months and has never revealed the father. Pulga wonders if Pequeña attempted to hurt herself or the baby on purpose when she fell getting off a bus months before. Consuelo and Lucia are excited to help Pequeña raise the baby. Pulga also knows that Chico, whose mother is dead, secretly hopes that his mother’s spirit will reincarnate in Pequeña’s baby. Pulga and Chico wait outside Pequeña’s and Tia Lucia’s house, but Pequeña’s cries are too much for them to bear, so they decide to walk to Don Felicio’s store for some cold soda.

In labor, Pequeña wonders if the baby will kill her: “I’ve surrounded it in a sac of resentment all these month and now it’s going to make me pay” (15). She tries mentally to call on La Bruja (meaning “the witch”), a spirit she calls her “angel.” Pequeña briefly escapes to the memory of seeing La Bruja for the first time when she was six years old and fell into the Rio Dulce from a rocky outcropping: La Bruja pulled her to the surface. Doña Agostina, a former midwife, helps with the birth. Pequeña pushes, thinking how she does not want her mother to love the baby and if Lucia knew “where it came from” (17), she would be moved to fetch the shotgun that belonged to Pequeña’s father, who left them years ago. Lucia has not, however, asked about the identity of the baby’s father. When the baby is born, Pequeña has a strange vision of waves of water sweeping in to clear out the room of her mother, baby, aunt, and Doña Agostina; Pequeña rides out on the water as well, leaving them all behind as her mother calls to her. Doña Agostina brings Pequeña back with smelling salts, and Pequeña lays still on the bed, feeling trapped.

Pulga and Chico walk to Don Felicio’s small store. In addition to soda, Pulga wants firecrackers to celebrate the baby’s birth. Nestor Villa drives by, and Pulga notices Nestor’s brother Rey in the car. Pulga recalls how, three years prior, Nestor challenged Pulga to lick the dust from Nestor’s new shoes; Pulga refused, telling him that Nestor’s mother could do that instead. Nestor began to pound Pulga into the ground, and Pulga pleaded to a nearby boy for help. This was Chico, who hit Nestor so hard that he fell over “like a makeshift bowling pin” (23). Nestor called his older brother Rey, a seasoned criminal with a prison record, to avenge his pride. Rey came home from his gang activities in Guatemala City and slapped Pulga and Chico to the ground, but Rey also called out Nestor for not fighting his own battles. Pulga and Chico now try to avoid Rey and Nestor, but though they look down as the car passes, Pulga glances up and makes eye contact with Nestor. Chico wants to turn back, but Pulga convinces him to keep going.

Don Felicio has a son, Gallo, who successfully made it to the United States. Don Felicio loves to share stories about Gallo and his new life, which includes a son whom Don Felicio has never seen. Don Felicio tells Pulga and Chico they can get “two sodas for the price of one” (28) if they help him unload shipping pallets. When Chico and Pulga go to the back room to get soda, they hear a car pull up and loud voices and Don Felicio begging. Then the boys hear a thump and the sound of the car pulling away. Terrified, Pulga discovers that Don Felicio has a bad wound to his throat. Don Felicio dies on the floor of the store as Pulga tells him that help is coming along with Gallo and his new grandson. Chico and Pulga run away from the scene.

A man in the street calls for Doña Agostina, and when Lucia tells him she is in the house, he barges toward the bedroom to find her. Doña Agostina is massaging Pequeña’s stomach. The man tells Doña Agostina that her husband Don Felicio is dead: “They’ve killed him […] At the store. I’m sorry… Don Felicio está muerto” (35).

Pulga’s mother comes home as he and Chico are trying to hide their clothes, which are wet with blood from the floor of Don Felicio’s store. Consuelo is crying; Pulga asks if Pequeña is okay. Consuelo tells them Don Felicio was killed and leaves to return to comfort Doña Agostina. Chico cries and Pulga watches to see if the police come, but they do not. Later, Pulga’s mother returns to say she will stay the night with Doña Agostina. Once she leaves, the boys bar the door. They burn their bloody clothes and wash their shoes, afraid to be identified as witnesses to the murder.

Pequeña wakes at night and sees that her mother opened the window. She gets up to close it and a hand grabs her arm. It is the baby’s father, later revealed to be Rey. He insists that Pequeña has to tell her mother about him now, but Pequeña lies that she wants to look and feel better first so that the moment will be “perfect.” Rey says that he will get a ring, and Pequeña is disgusted when he forces a kiss. He tells her, “Just remember I chose you […] I could have had anyone, Pequeña, but I want you […] Take care of our baby” (44). Rey leaves. Pequeña vomits on the carpet. She doesn’t have the strength to clean it up and throws a towel over the mess instead.

Pulga recalls when Chico’s mother was killed two years ago. Pulga was 13 and Chico was 11; they were at the market, and he and Chico walked to get horchata while she shopped. After hearing gunshots, Pulga got to the scene first, saw Chico’s mother’s dead body, then turned back to hold Chico away. Pulga thought of running away then, but chose to stay and wait. Alone in the house in the present, the boys confess how fearful they are. Pulga cannot sleep well. The next day, at Doña Agostina’s, women prepare tamales for Don Felicio’s wake. Doña Agostina tells Pulga she saw Pequeña “riding away from here on a bloody mattress” (51) in a vision. She also saw Pulga and Chico running, and believes that the spirit of Don Felicio is telling the three of them to run. Pulga is not sure what to make of Doña Agostina’s vision.

Rey arrives at Pequeña’s house while everyone is at the wake. He reminds Pequeña that he knew the baby would be a boy and that he knew the first time he saw her they would be perfect together. Rey promises Pequeña better things, like “a big house, maids, fancy cars” (55). He kisses her again, then leaves. Pequeña lays the baby in the bassinet and lies down. She has a vision that Gallo, whom she once had a crush on, is crying. In her vision, Gallo looks at her and asks, “Pequeña?” (57). Then she sees Don Felicio, who leads her to the wake where Chico and Pulga are and gestures to the boys. His neck begins to bleed; he makes gurgling sounds. He tells her, “Corre. Run” (60). When Lucia comes home, she is disappointed and worried that Pequeña did not change or feed the baby. Chico and Pulga go to Pequeña’s room to play cards, but she tells them, “Something bad is going to happen” (64) and that they must run.

That night Pulga’s mother tells him how much she loves him. He reflects on his knowledge of the route of La Bestia (the Beast), the network of trains to the north, and the money sent by his aunt in the United States that Consuelo saved for him. When Chico brings up Pequeña’s warning, Pulga insists that everything will be fine if they just behave as if they saw nothing. Days later, though, Nestor stops his car as Pulga and Chico walk to school and requires the boys to get in, threatening them with a gun.

Pequeña begs her mother to allow her to go to the market. She wants Lucia to feed the baby formula so that she does not have to nurse him. Lucia says Pequeña cannot burden Consuelo with the cost of formula, even though Consuelo offered to supply it. Pequeña has money stashed away but knows she must keep it a secret in case she runs away. Pequeña feels guilty but can only think about leaving. She “pray[s] for this to end—for my milk to dry up and for the baby to somehow disappear and for Rey to die” (72). Pequeña leaves for the market, still fixated on running away.

Nestor drives Chico and Pulga to an abandoned building near their school. Rey is waiting at a desk inside, and other young men sit on either side of him. Chico is so afraid that he wets his pants. Rey indicates that he knows Pulga and Chico witnessed the killing of Don Felicio and Pulga chooses not to lie. Rey wants Pulga and Chico to work for him and “to be [his] little gophers for a while” (77). Chico vomits in fear. Rey says Pulga has street smarts and Chico will do anything Pulga says. To prove this, Rey insists that Pulga get Chico to hit him (Pulga). Not having any choice, Pulga says terribly mean things to Chico about his mother’s past as a sex worker. Chico beats Pulga badly. Rey says they did a fine job. Nestor drives them home. Pulga feels sick and trapped.

In the market, Pequeña goes to the drugstore. The clerk is a 26-year-old woman named Leticia who had a baby girl at 16 with a boyfriend who then left for the US and never returned. Leticia looks tired and “a little dead” (85). Pequeña asks Leticia for birth control pills, something to help dry up her milk, razor blades, and a switchblade. Leticia offers Pequeña a pack of morning-after pills as well and asks her gently how much trouble she is in. Pequeña asks for the items to be placed on credit and asks Leticia to tell her mother that she’s sorry and that she loves her when Lucia eventually comes to pay. Leticia wishes her well and agrees.

Pulga is woken from sleep by his mother’s cries. Consuelo is crying because of Pulga’s appearance, but Pulga will not say who beat him so badly. He falls asleep again and when he wakes, recalls a memory: When Pulga was eight, he saw a young boy fall from a truck into a dirty crowded roadway. Pulga’s mother told Pulga the boy was fine, but Pulga wonders if that was true. Pulga goes to Chico and tells him they must run. He knows from listening to men outside Don Felicio’s store the route to take. They must go or be exposed to a terrible fate in Puerto Barrios. Chico agrees.

Rey comes to Pequeña’s house and insists on taking her and the baby for a ride. Pequeña is terrified but must comply. Rey tells Pequeña to “put on a pretty dress. Fix yourself up” before they go (93), and Pequeña is afraid to turn her back but does so. She exchanges her old shorts and flip-flops for a nice dress and black flats. She considers running then but feels she must protect the baby. She gets in tells herself that she will run if Rey does not kill her that day.

For three days, Nestor picks up Pulga and Chico to take them to the warehouse instead of school, where he teaches them to shoot. The fourth day, Nestor gives Pulga a backpack, a gun, and instructions to collect money from an address. Pulga and Chico go on one of Rey’s motor scooters. At the address, a man trains an automatic weapon on them. Another man asks if they are working for Rey and says Rey must be testing him. The second man tries to send the backpack back empty, saying “Okay…looks like we’re good,” (99), but when Pulga asks if he should take that message to Rey, the man relents and gives over the money. Later that day, the boys take the money Consuelo has saved for Pulga from its hiding place and purchase three tickets at the bus station.

Rey takes Pequeña to a deserted beach and gives her a diamond ring, telling her, “That ring is your destiny” (102). She falls to her knees holding the baby and allows Rey to think her reaction is one of happiness. Rey takes Pequeña home and tells her that they will tell Lucia the next day. Rey plans to take Pequeña and the baby home with him afterward. Rey leaves, and Pulga and Chico arrive on the motor scooter and give Pequeña a bus ticket. For a moment, she does not believe they are real. Pulga insists they must leave that night. Pequeña agrees.

Pulga and Chico talk themselves into sneaking out of the house to leave for the bus station. Pulga did not tell his mother that he was leaving when he said goodnight and is torn with heartbreak. Pulga knows he must run away to avoid another day of danger as Rey’s henchman. Pulga pushes his and Chico’s backpacks out the window, then climbs out after them. The two boys race toward the bus station on bicycles. Inside, they are the first passengers to arrive for the three a.m. departure. They wait anxiously for Pequeña. A strange man in a bulky jacket approaches and Pulga is terrified, thinking it is one of Rey’s men come to kill them. Once the stranger is very close, Pulga sees that it is actually Pequeña, who cut her hair and wears men’s clothes and a ball cap. The bus pulls into the station.