“Esperanza’s eyes were on fire.”

  “As she thought about Papa, tears sprang from her eyes and she suddenly felt weary, as if she had been clinging to a rope but didn’t have the strength to hold on any longer.”

 “A temper Esperanza did not recognize raged to the surface. Then, like the irrigation pipes in the fields when the water is first turned on, her anger burst forth.” 

“They passed miles of naked grapevines, stripped of their harvest and bereft of their leaves.”

 “Now my life is like the zigzag in the blanket on Mama’s bed.”

 “A thick tule ground fog that hugged the earth settled in the valley, surrounding them, as if they stood within a deep gray cloud.”

 “But afterward came the anticipation of spring and a valley pregnant with needs: graceful asparagus, ripening vineyards, and groaning trees.”

 “I think my heart is dancing.”

“With eyes as hard as green plums, Miguel stared at her and his face contorted into a disgusted grimace.”

 “The tall and feathery asparagus plants seemed to be as unrelenting as Isabel’s desire to be queen.”

“What have I done to deserve this honor, mi reina?”

“Then she flew over the river, a thrusting torrent that cut through the mountains.”

  “Then early peaches called, crickets in the fields started their nightly symphony and Mama came home.”

  “The sun peeked over the rim of a distant ridge, bursting the dawn onto the waiting fields.”

“Citrus groves displayed their leftover fruit like decorations on Christmas trees.”

 “But the lugs of asparagus that were sent back to the sheds had to be taken across the picket lines and the strikers often slipped surprises beneath the harvest.”

“The picket signs lay on the ground, discarded, and like a mass of marbles that had already been hit.”

“In Mexico, I was a second-class citizen. ”

“Would she ever escape this valley she was living in?”