She warns that Odilia and her sisters must deliver the dead man’s body and visit their Abuelita Remedios to reunite their family. La Llorona clarifies that this legend is not true, that she did not murder her children but does feel responsible for their deaths. Sitting by the riverbank with the mother, Odilia realizes that she is the legendary ghost of La Llorona, who is said to have drowned her own children in the Rio Grande then wandered the earth looking for them. After risking her own life, she is unable to save them. When they do fall, Odilia jumps in after them.
Odilia unthinkingly follows the boys to ensure they don’t fall in the river.
Juanita exerts power over her older sister by refusing to let her drive.ĭuring a pit stop, Odilia sees two little boys running toward the Rio Grande, their frantic mother in tow. At the last minute, and in order to protect them, Odilia joins. Later that night, the four younger sisters defy Odilia’s orders to stay home by stealing their father’s beat-up car and beginning their pilgrimage across the border. To quell her sisters’ enthusiasm for the Mexico journey, Odilia evokes the veto power of their sibling saying: “The Garza sisters, together forever no matter what!” (22). Though eldest sister Odilia dismisses the idea, she acknowledges Juanita’s point that if they notify the authorities, then the area will immediately be swept for other border-crossers. Middle twin sisters Delia and Velia and youngest sister Pita jump at Juanita’s proposal to deliver the body to the dead man’s family and visit their grandmother in the process, in the hopes of finding their father’s whereabouts. She notes that the address is near their estranged paternal grandmother’s house. Juanita, the second oldest of the five girls, searches the man’s person to find a driver’s license with a Mexican address.
However, their favorite summer swimming hole is spoiled by the sudden appearance of a male corpse. Though their mother instructed them to stay home and play the card game Lotería, they go hiking and swimming by the Rio Grande. The same summer, butterflies descend on the area in mass quantities. With their father now gone, the girls’ lives lack structure.
The five Garza sisters had been enjoying a summer of hedonism, doing exactly what they wanted when they wanted, while their mother works at a diner. The book opens on the recovery of a dead body on the banks of the Rio Grande. The Garza sisters embark on a quest to find their free-wheeling father but end up rekindling sisterhood, solidarity, and self-love instead.
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