Crossing the Wire

Victor Flores has just finished work in his family’s fields for the day when his best friend, Rico Rivera, sneaks up on him. The fifteen-year-olds have grown up together in Los Árboles, the small Mexican village where Victor still lives, but for the past three years Rico has lived with his sister in Silao, where her husband works at the General Motors and Rico attends trade school.

Rico says he wants to show Victor a secret. He leads Victor through the nearby ruins of an old village to a wall covered with cactus. He says they have to crawl under the cactus. When Victor hesitates for fear of rattlesnakes, Rico calls Victor by his nickname, Turtle. Rico gave Victor this nickname in part because Victor was always a slower runner than Rico, but mostly because Victor is cautious, while Rico romanticizes adventure.

Under the cactus, Rico has hidden a jar filled with 1,500 American dollars. The amount astonishes Victor, who thinks, “My family could get by for more than a year on this much money” (4). Rico says the money comes from one of his brothers in the U.S, and that it is his “coyote money” (4). Victor realizes his friend plans to pay someone, a “coyote,” to lead him across the border to the United States, or El Norte. Rico confirms that he plans to “cross the wire” into the United States (4). 

Victor and Rico continue discussing Rico’s plan to leave Mexico. The price to cross has risen from $1,000 to $1,500 in the last year because of increasing danger. Rico is excited, even if hehas to try a couple times to get across, and believes he will make it, because he’s “a fast runner” (5).

Rico says that Victor is overly cautious because of his father, who was killed by a collapsing wall while building a foundation for a high school in South Carolina four years ago. Meanwhile, for Rico, El Norte is “the land of opportunity,” and he jokes about shaking “the hand of Mickey Mouse” (5). Rico has always liked “everything American—cars, music, fashions,” and wears a yellow American baseball cap over his hair short, bleached hair (5).

Rico, who is the youngest child in his family, got the money from his oldest brother, Rynaldo, who sells cars and takes care of swimming pools in Tucson. He plans to leave the next morning and hasn’t yet told his parents his plan. This secrecy upsets Victor, who knows that Rico’s parents intended for Rico to attend school, get a job in Mexico, and look after his parents as they age.

Rico and Victor argue. Victor tries to convince his friend to change his mind, but it is clear Ricohas made up his mind. Victor agrees to tell Rico’s parents what their son has done once he leaves town. 

Victor returns to work in his fields, where he is tilling additional land to plant more corn, in order to make up for the crop’s falling prices. While working, he recalls his family fleeing the violent Mexican state of Chiapas, near the Guatemala border.

Rico’s father finds Victor in the field and says that he will know that evening,after his trip to Silao,about the corn price outlook for the year. At midday, Victor goes home to eat lunch with his mother, three of his sisters, and his younger brother. Victor feels ashamed that he hasn’t been able to provide better for his family than the platter of tortillas and bowl of rice and beans, and he sneaks some of his own food to his younger brother.

After lunch, Victor goes back to the field to work. He thinks about how much his family needs the price of corn to rise this year. He recalls a conversation with Senor Rivera about the declining prices. Senor Rivera explained that people buy American corn because it is cheaper. As he works, he sees Rico leaving on the bus to Silao. 

Victor continues to work his field until late in the day. The village bells toll, reminding him of the time they rung for his father’s death. He waits for Rico’s parents to get off the bus from their trip back from Silao and dreads telling them of their son’s decision.

Rico’s parents approach Victor and tell him the bad news about corn prices, which are even lower. Free trade agreements with the U.S. have led to more manufacturing jobs in Mexico, but they have destroyed Mexico’s agriculture. Senor Rivera advises Victor not to bother planting any more corn at all this year, as he will get almost nothing for it.

Devastated, Victor leaves without giving Rico’s parents the news about their son. As he contemplates his own options, he realizes that the only way he can support his family is to go north and cross the wire himself. At home, he gives his mother the news about Rico, the corn prices, and his own decision to go north. His mother worries that it is too dangerous for him to travel, and makes Victor promise not to leave without her blessing. She says that Victor should go to El Cristo Rey to pray and think, while she talks to Our Lady of Guadalupe, who “listens to the poor and the desperate” (23).