Chapter 7 Summary

Emelina is organizing a fiesta for the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, a family tradition. School will begin the following Tuesday, but Codi hasn't been to the school yet and has avoided an announced teacher's meeting. She was hired on an emergency basis since she is not certified to teach.

Emelina tells Codi that Loyd Peregrina, the father of the child she lost as a teenager, who works with J. T. on the railroad, will be coming to the fiesta. Loyd has straightened himself out, says Emelina. She doesn't know of the relationship between him and Cody when they were teenagers. Meanwhile, Codi notices that the fruit trees do not look healthy. Later, she and John Tucker, Emelina's oldest son, go shopping for supplies for the fiesta, and she sees Loyd, who waves to her from his pickup truck.

The fiesta is like...