Summary

In "Stela": "The Living Sea, The Story of Stela's Mother," it was 1981 in Puerto Rico. The narrator, Stela's mother, was living "at the home in Vega Baja" (115). The home was for orphans and abandoned children. This was where she met Martin, the first boy she loved. Martin's mother was not dead, but sick. The narrator liked Martin because he took care of her. Her family had drowned years before. She was, therefore, the only child at the home that did not know how to swim. Then one day, Martin taught her. The feeling was freeing. Soon, she and Martin started sleeping together. She felt special being the one "Martin focused on" (123). He started calling her Mermaid. From then on, this was the only name she went by.

On Mermaid's birthday, she got her period during sex with...