Chapter 10 Summary

Once, Juan takes Richard to the home of his friend Cirilo (with whose wife Juan has slept). Cirilo introduces them to his sixteen-year-old niece, Pilar, who has recently come to live with him because her parents are dead. Richard is surprised at her manner because she behaves in the submissive, quiet way of a woman from Mexico. He has not seen women act this way since his own mother started speaking her mind. Since Pilar is pretty, Richard enjoys talking with her, while the adults entertain themselves. Pilar laughs at Richard's Spanish, which he describes as "California-Mexican-American Castilian." (Chapter 10, Section I, p. 165) Richard likes hearing Pilar talk about Mexico because for years he has heard his parents talk about Mexico as it was twenty years ago, but now he can hear from Pilar what things were like just before she came to California...