woostify domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home/latestwordpress/lonestar.a1professionals.net_public_html/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6131A review of Where We Come From, the second novel by Brownsville native and Austin professor Oscar C\u00e1sares. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Rules.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n We all have rules under which we are expected to operate. Those rules are different, though, depending upon what space we occupy, and those spaces are geographical, psychological, sociological, economic\u2014no end to the variations impacting our options, que no? <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Daniel has rules, and those rules are different in Brownsville than in Veracruz. In Brownsville there\u2019s do not come out in the day, do not open the door to anyone, do not be looking out the window, do not be making any noises, do not turn on the air conditioner, do not, no matter what, let anyone see you. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Daniel is hiding in the little pink house in Nina\u2019s backyard. He is twelve years old, from Veracruz, on his way north to reunite with his father in Chicago. The discovery of (probably not) the last mass grave was the last straw.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Orly has rules, and those rules are different in Brownsville than in Houston. In Brownsville there\u2019s no kicking the ball against the side of the house, have respect (this isn\u2019t Houston), always pray before eating, eat all your food (this isn\u2019t Luby\u2019s), stay away from the canal, no computers at the kitchen table (this isn\u2019t <\/em>Houston), no playing with the dog, La Bronca. The dog\u2019s \u201cchain looks short, but it always turns out to be a little longer than people think.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Life will bite you; mind the chain. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Orly is visiting his godmother, Nina, in Brownsville for three weeks during summer vacation. Orly is twelve and lives in Houston with his father, older brother, and iPad. Real estate agents in his part of town extoll the media room, the wine cellar, the library (no trapdoor). The consensus in his immediate family is that he\u2019s soft, twelve going on nine. His mother died last year and he\u2019s a sensitive child\u2014the counseling, the meds, the vitamins, no junk food\u2014maybe the Valley will toughen him up a little.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Nina is a retired teacher living in her hometown, lonely and frustrated, the default caretaker of her ninety-four-year-old mother. Rumalda crosses the bridge from Matamoros each Friday to clean Nina\u2019s house. One day she asks un favor<\/em>: Will Nina allow Rumalda\u2019s daughter and granddaughter to hide in the little pink house in the backyard, just for a couple of days, until the next leg of their journey north can begin? Nina\u2019s decision to help Rumalda sets in motion a series of events that will have profound effects on many lives. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n