Miracle in Tent City
- Francisco tells us a bit about the place in Santa Maria where he lives. They call it Tent City because it's a bunch of tents, but it's not exactly it's own city; adding to its charm is the fact that the city dump is nearby.
- Remember how in the last chapter Francisco mentioned that his mom was pregnant? Well now she's about to pop. But she still spends her days cooking from 4:00AM on so that all the workers in Tent City get fed, and also finds time to set things up for the new baby.
- Sheesh, that woman is one super Mamá.
- Francisco and Roberto help out with the cooking and the baby-readying. They even go dumpster-diving to find wood to make a floor in the tent.
- Everyone is seriously stoked when the youngest bro, Juan Manuel, is born. He also gets a cool nickname: Torito (which means little bull).
- But all these newborn good times come to a halt when Torito gets sick. And when we say sick, we mean knocking on death's door kind of sick. You see, Torito's fever goes from bad to worse really fast, and before the family knows it his whole body is stiffening up and they're worried he's dead. Luckily, he gets through the night and starts breathing again, but overall things aren't looking too great.
- Mamá and Papá don't want to take Torito to a hospital, because they don't have money. But there's a woman in Tent City named Doña María who's got her own ways for curing folks; she tries rubbing some eggs on Torito's stomach. Sadly he gets stiff again so Mamá and Papá rush him to the hospital.
- While they're gone, Francisco is super scared. He prays for his little bro, but when Mamá and Papá return Torito is still at the hospital.
- He stays there all the next day and Francisco isn't allowed to see him, which stinks. Plus, his parents are really sad. They even seem almost mad at Francisco, which is pretty confusing.
- That night, the whole family prays to Santo Niño.
- After prayer, Francisco has a super crazy dream. First off, in this dream Santo Niño shows up with a basket of white butterflies. Okay, that seems pretty cool. But things get extra crazy real fast because then Francisco dreams that he wakes up to find a pic of Torito dressed like Santo Niño. This dream gives Mamá the inspiration to make a blue cloak for Torito, because it matches Santo Niño's.
- Finally some good news: Torito comes home from the hospital. He's still pretty ill, but they have more hope. Mamá and Papá also remind the kids that they've promised to pray to the Santo Niño every day for a year, and they better keep their promise. We're wondering what this promise comes from, and one year later we get to find out.
- Here's the story Mamá tells from one year ago: at the hospital, Torito was in seriously bad shape and the doctor said they'd waited too long to bring him in. This meant he was going to die unless a miracle happened. And Mamá says that a miracle sure did happen.