Marin goes to dances whenever she can. One night, she danced with Geraldo, a young man from Mexico who didn’t speak English. Later Geraldo was struck by a car, and Marin went with him to the hospital and waited while he died. He had no identification.
“Edna’s Ruthie” is the daughter of a woman who owns the apartment house next door. She is odd (the only adult, Esperanza says, who likes to play), dresses strangely, and can’t make decisions. She is living with her mother, although she is supposedly married and has a home of her own. Esperanza shows Ruthie her library books and once recited a poem for her.
“The Earl of Tennessee” is a man who lives in Edna’s basement apartment, near where Esperanza and her friends gather. Sometimes he tells them to be quiet, because he sleeps days and works nights. He speaks with a southern accent, has two little dogs, and is said to have a wife who occasionally comes to visit him in his musty basement; several people have seen her, but they cannot even come close to agreeing on what she looks like.
A boy called “Sire” stares at Esperanza whenever she passes his house, but she refuses to act scared. Once she stared back. Sire fascinates Esperanza; her parents tell her to leave him alone. He has a girlfriend called Lois, and their relationship also fascinates Esperanza. She leans out her bedroom window at night and tries to imagine what it would be like if Sire held her and kissed her.
In “Four Skinny Trees,” Esperanza describes the four trees that grow in front of her house. Esperanza identifies with the trees and says they too don’t belong where they are, but that they use their anger to survive. She learns from them, she says, to keep going.
