THE Circuit BY FRANCISCO JIMENEZ “They worked tweive hours a day, seven days a week. was tat tie of year again. Ito, the strawberry sarecroppe* {ad not smile. It was natural. The peak ofthe sranberry e800 was over and the last few days the workers, mst of them braces? “ete not picking as many boxes as they ad during te months of Juneand July, othe last days of August disappeared sod the number of ‘braceros Sunday, only one—the best pcker—came to work. iked ‘him, Sometimes we talked ducing our hal-hour lunch beak. Thats how found out he was from Jalisco, the same state n Mexico my fam was from, That Sunday was the last tme 1% hm ‘When the sun had ted and sunk behind the mountains, Ito signaled us that it was ie to go home. "Ya esr”? e yelled in his broken Spanish. Those were the words {waited for twelve hours Gay everyday seven days a week, week after week. And the thought fof not heating them again saddened me. bis we drove home Papa dig not saya word. Withboth hands on tne whoe, he stared atthe dit road. My older brother, Roberto, was loosen, He leaned his head back and closed his ees. Once in a we he cleared fom hs throat the dust that blew in rom outside ‘es it was that time of year When L opened the font door to the shack, I stopped. Everything we owned was neatly picked in Cardboard boxes, Suddenly I felt even more the welgt of hous, days, week, and months of work. [sat down on a box. The thought ot ving to move to Fresno and knowing what wasin store for me thes brought teas tomy eyes.‘That nigh could not sleep ay in bed thinking about howe ‘much Ihated this move, Alte before ive oclockin the morning, Pape woke everyone up. ‘few minutes itr, the yelling and seaming of my ite brothers and sis, fr whom the move was a great adventure, broke the silence of dawn, Shortly, the barking ofthe dogs accompanied them, ‘While we packed the breakfast dishes, Pap went ouside to stat the "Careanchit" That was the name Papa give his cd 38 black Plymouth He bought it ina used-ar Tot in Santa Rosa in the enter (0f1949. Papa was very proud of his ea. “Mi Carn,” my tle Jalopy, he clledt. He had a ight to be proud oft, He spent alot of time looking at ether cars before buying this one, When he finaly chose the “Carcanchit,” he checked 1 thoroughly efoce driving it ut of theca lot He examined every inch ofthe ca. He iste ta {he motor tng his head fom side to side lke 2 parot, trying to detect any noses that spelled eae trouble, After being satisfied with {he fooks and sounds ofthe eat, Papa then insisted on knowing who the original owner was. He never did find cut from the car salesman. But he bought the car anyway. Papa figured the original owner must hnave been an important man because Behind the ret set ofthe cat hae found a blue necktie, Papa parked the car out in front and et the motor sunning “List” (ready), he yelled. Without saying 3 wors, Roberto and | began to cany the boxer out othe cat. Rabesto cried the two big boxes and Icamed the two smaller ones. Papa then theew the mattress on top ofthe car rool an tied it with ropes tothe front and rear bumpers ‘verything mas packed except Mama's pot. It was an ol large salvanized pot she hd picked up at an army surplus store in Santa Maria the year Iwas born. The pot was full of dents and nicks, and “pana po hat as een cote wih mateo ep om tingthe more dents an nics it had, the more Mama liked it “Ml ol” (ony 200 the wie t0 2 proudly. " held the front door open as Mama carefully cared >the pot tyybots handles, mating sure not to spit the cooked beans, When Seo por tothe ca, Papa reached out 1 help er witht, Roberto Sheed the ear car door and Pap gently placed ton the Moor trpind the front seat ll of ws then climbed in Papa sighed wiped eset off is forebead with his sleeve, and sad easly: “Es todo" (asi Mh we daove away elt Tomp in my throat, fuened around ang tooked at our ttle shack for the lst time in sunset we dove into a labor camp nese Fresno, Shee Papa did notspeak English, Mama asked the camp foreman if henieded any Mow workers. *We don’t need no more," sai the fren, ronehing his head. "Check with Sulivan down the ros. Cant miss Fn. He ives ina big white house with a fence around.” When we got there, Mama walked up tothe house. she went nmap white gate, pasta ro of ose bushes up te stars to the front door She rang te dootell. The porch ight wenton and tall Fsty man carne out They exchanged afew words, Afr the man Metin, Mama clasped er hands and hurtied back to the cat. "We Tne woe Sullivan eid we can stay there the whole season Snesalé gasping and pointing tan old garage near the stables “Ine garage as orn out bythe Years. tad no windows. The seals eaten by termites, stained to suppor the roof ul of holes. The Trae tft, populated by entoorms, looked ike a gray road map. That night, by the ligt of a kerosene fap, we unpacked and cjenned our ew home. Roberto swept away the tose Art, earing he hard ground. Papa plugged the hoes inthe walls with old ve spapes an tn can tops Mama fed my tle brothers and sisters. Taps and Roberto then brought inthe mattress an plied it on the fbrcoune: ofthe garage. "Mama, you and the itl one slep on the varturss, Roberta, Panchito, and I wil slep outside under the trees,” ‘nly next morning Mr. Sallivan showed us where is crop Was, an afer breakfast, Papa, Roberta, and need forthe vineyard to pick. “tiound nioeo'lockthe temperature ad sen to slmost one snundeed degrees. was completely soaked in sweat and my mouth fot asi had been chewing on 2 handkerchief, I walled oves otheSa I i; end ef the row plcked up the ug of water we had Brought anc began drinking. “Don'tdrink too much; you'l get sick Roberto shouted. No sooner had he sd that than [felt sick to my stomach, | dropped to my knees and let the jug rol off my han, {remained ‘motionless with my eyes glued onthe hot sandy ground, all oud hear as the drone of insects. Sosy I began to recov | poused waterover my face and neck and watched the black mid i doven| ‘my alms and hit the ground, Teil feat dizey when we took a break to eat lunch, It was pst ro c/lock and we sat underneath large walt tee that was ‘the side of the road. While we ate, Papa jotted doven the number lofbores we had picked. Roberto drew designs on the ground with a stick. Suddenly Tnoties Papas face turn pale ashe looked down the tad. “Here comes the School bus,” he whispered loudly in alam, Instncively,Robeco and Ian and hid ia the vineyards We dd not want to get in rouble for not going to schoo. The yellow bus Stoppzd infront of Mr. Sullivan's house. Two neatly dreszed boys bout my age gt off. They cared books under thie arms. Ate they crossed the street, the bus drove away. Roberto an I came out from hiding and joined Papa." Tenen que tener cudado” (you have tobe caret, he warmed ‘Aft lunch we went back to work. The sun kept beating down, “The buzzing insects, the wet sweat, and the ot dey dust made the afternoon seem to last forever Finally the mountains around the ‘alley reached out and swallowed the sun. Within an hour was oo dark continve picking, The vines blanketed the grapes, making it ficult to see the bunches. *Vimanos” sid Papa, signaling ous ‘hat twas time to quit work. Papa then took aut a pencil and began to figure out now much We had earned ovr fst day. He wrote down 5 vommen a % Tre GR‘numbers, crossed some out, Wrote downsome more. “Quince” Uiteen dott), be murmured. ‘When we atved home, we took coi shower underneath a vaterhose, We then st down to ext diner around some wooden Crates thet served stable: Marna had cooked a spedal meal for us ‘We had ice and tora with came con dil, my favorite dish The next morning could hardly mot. My body ached all Ove. at litte contol over my arms nd lg. Ths feeling went on every ‘morning for days unt my muscles finaly got used tothe work, Te was Monday, the fist week of November. The grape season was ‘over and I could now goto school. wate up early that morning and layin bed, looking athe stars and savodng the thought of not going to work and of starting sxth grade forte fst ime that yeat Since foul not slep, I decided to get up and oin Papa and Roberto at Ireaklast. stat the able actos from bert but Lept my head down. ld not went te look up and fae him. [knew he was sad. He tras not going ta school today. He was nat going tomorrow, or next ‘week, oF next month, He would not go until the cotton season was (vet and that was sometime in Febrony I rubbed my hands together and watched the dry, acstaiped skin fll tthe Noor in litte ols ‘When Papa and Robert lft for work {felt ele. walked to the topofa small grade next to the shack ard watched the *Curcanchita” disappear in the distanceia a cloud of dust “wo hour late, around eight o'ock | stood by the side ofthe rood wating for school bus number twenty. When i arived ‘med in. No one noted me. Everyore was busy either talking ot yelling. sat in an empry seat inthe back. ‘When the bus stopped infront ofthe schoo, felt very nervous, "Hooked out the bus window and saw bays and gis carrying books lunder ther arms. I felt empty. I put my hands in my pants pockets land walled to the principals office, When I entered [hears a ‘voman’s voice say: "May I help you?” Iwas startled. had not heard English for months, For afew seconds Iremained speechless Hooked atthe lady who waltedforan answer. ‘My fis instinct wae to answer here Spanish, but 1 held back ally after struggling for English wores I managed to tell her that I wanted to enrol inthe sth grade. After answering many questions, [ras led to the classtoom. tae Gime csMe Lema, the sixth grae teaches, greeted me and asigned mea ‘desk. He then introduced me tothe cas. as 50 nervous ahd caved at that moment wen everyone's eyes were on me that Wished { were with Papa and Raberto picking cotton. After taking rol Mr. Lema gave the class te asignment fer the first hove. "The frst thing we have todo this morning is finish reading th story we began yesterday," he sid enthusiastically. He walked up to me, handed me an Engle book, and asked the fo ead "We aceon page 125," he sid politely. When {heat this, feltmy blood rush to my ‘ead ft dizy.*Would you like to reac?” heasked hesitantly. pent the book to page 125. My mouth was ery. My eyes Degen iO ate could not begin. "You can red later”. Lema said understanaingy For te cest ofthe reading period I kept gettng anger and angrier with myself. | should have rea, thought to mysel. During recess T went into the restroom aad epened my English ‘book to page 12. | began to ead in alow voice, pretending Twas in ‘lass. There were many words ld not know. Ietosed the book snd headed tack tothe essoom, ‘Me. Lema was sitting at his desk correcting pipers When {entered be looked up at me and smiled. fet better. I walked upto itn and ‘asked If he could help me withthe new words “Clady,” he sa, ‘The rest ofthe month Ispent my lunch hous working on English ‘with Me Lema, my bes fiend at school ‘One Friday during tunch houe Mr, Lema asked me to take a wale With him tothe music room. "De you like mus” he asked me as = Tee Cincosve entered the Dulin. ‘Yes ike Mexican coro," 1answered. He then picked up a trumpet blew on it and handed it o me, The sound gave me goose bumps. {knew that sound ha heard it in many Mexican comides. How would you liketo learn ow to play 1” he asked, He mast have read my face because before I could answer, headed: “1 teach you how to play it during our lunch hour.” “That day Teould hardy wait o gethome to tll Papa and Manna the goat news. As {got off the bus, my hte brothers and sisters ran lupto meer me They were yellngand screaming thought they were happy to see me, but when opened the door to our shack, T Th that everything we owned as neatly packed in cardboars bots ‘Read welt paragraph ofthe tor again Wht can you conlode ‘rig ct has happened to Panchite's fay? hats he fay sorely odo now? When you daw a conelason, you Use Infomation in the sory to reach a decision ‘Meet the Author ‘rancaca Bez was born Jao, Mexia and immigrated 10 Calorie ‘San ise when he was fou years od. Te Grout” based onthe Tutors eperances growing up Calf, was writen Spanish tnd then rented ito Engh. When Kwa pulsed 1973, won ‘he Atos Cuter Angel Award, The autor exned a doctor rom Cokabiamery in New Yor, nd teaches Spars longuoge and Fevcee tte Unversity of Sant lars in Calforia. He has witen an tte nny ares and shor stores. can opie saaCHECK YOUR READING Pitan Xin tho box nest tothe craot ener. Reading Comprehension 1. Atte beginning of te tn, Poncho was sad becuse he 1D aha en he fami for baat want tomoveto 1 e-was fetng it 2. How ai Papa et sbouthie be Hewas esas of Ee He den care bout ‘8. Mr Sula ani that he fay cold etay Daina bi white house Lath some frends wha ved nea 4 eine gorage ‘4. Hom mach ite fay ex the est ay on the nem joo? | 1 a.ten dolla 1D bs iteon dots 1 ectweny aaa | 5, Why det Panett read tthe as on his ht dey at schoo! | (2 aLHe was too nenous to oad © bate did understand ay ofthe words 10 He dt havea book 8. Me tema sld hat he woul teach Pancho how lay athe pana 1D e the vat, 7. Att end fhe ston Panto scored at 0 a.Me tems had anew eb tte family tact iave in month 1 eovertiig they owned ws packed is bows. Vocabulary 8, He ind dtet i hare wt ning wrong withthe cor “Tho word detect maane © asp 1 ce decover 28. Paps asta "Who ws the gil onner othe" The word eit means Dai Obes etes Idioms 10. He knew what was in str for him inFese, so he want a stay hme, The am i sre 1 mina grocay store © baie ashen. 1 ein the fate.UNDERSTANDING THE STORY Exercise A ~ Checking Comprehension ‘Anonor each question by wing a complete sentence Be sue your fentence te grammatical corres You may lookback athe story 1. Where was the fay maving the begining of “he Crest"? 2. What id Poe find behind eatin the car beta he bough it? 8. Ho ong a van aye Fai cou 9? 4. Where ite oie when they worked fr Mr Suva? 5, were Rater, Pancho. ond Pepe deen? 6, Hr much the fai the es yon ene job 2. in was Panetta abe ogo schoo in November? £8, What grade was Pancho ina schoot® low ea Panio spent hing hour Schoo? 10, Ale end one stony wa oh Past see when he opened il PieExercise B~ Adding Vocabulary 1 the box ae 12 words om the try Completa each sentence by adding the correct wor. [ent emis pointed cam pak [ome a akg me eet 1. Eveone got up at he sack the morning. en the fail was ead ‘olemety 2, Since he the workers had ie ot te season was oe; some of 8. Mama rang the bel and al the door. mmpncane to 4. The ground was covers with earth which was by vaems 5. Pap, Robert, ed Parco 2egan ta pick grapes inthe £8. Pactito acho a ve unt hi sed tothe werk ‘nat got 2. Thy ateanneson wooden ________thatsaned a 0 abe £8. wen Pacha sive at school ne explains tht ne wanted to nthe sty grade 8. Atough Pancht'sfvst_____wastospeck Spantsh, he anowered in Engh, 10. He ead softy in herestroom, —____ tate was a ass te The BincurExercise C ~ Combining Sentences Par A Combine wo simple sentencos nto one camplex sontence ty wing he ‘subortnating conunetion in parentheses Begin te sentence wt the conjuction and ue a comma at the endo the lute Wie te complex Santonaa of te ine. nest one has been donee yu, [Common Subordinating Conjunctons ster since ‘though though when a ol tite 1. The svawbany sa50n was oer: The family hod io move (ine) Since the strawberry season was over, the fnully brad to move 2. The car was very 1. Papa hed very much (tegh) ‘3. Fop packed Ux ea: Mama prepared fo forthe tp. il) 4. Tholamly dove awey Poncho looked atk the le sack (s) 8, The sh was vey hare Pano go seat. naughy 6. Fence entered the cairo. Mr Lams inode hi othe class (toy7. You can come hare ing your lunch hou wl hep you with your Fnalsh 6) eats Sarin simple sntncs int or compe eto sng te "sorinaing teats Stave ego cmon. dit ncn ne en eh cna bee sores otha in Use ee conjunconane (ster situa since ie) 1 Papa didn speck Engh. Mama spoke tM Sllvan. 2. Roberto swept the for Pas fixe the wall. “4 Ponctito rent much weter | te folk sich eeExercise D ~ Finding S35 wronyms feed the sentence Then 5 CE ye synonym the word most sila in rnoing) fr evo ATE T eens an Kintera ob me ara aA SOMERS. Wordeecie tram 1. Popa check the ct 6. Hi fator tcl a peel and Trovogly before INE FE Gye ote -worousHIY DB aguclly 5 bresrefly Di e-qulety a. Helistened @HEMLOF. UATting ne heed om sdeto Sicha, ‘rune Dav teaning © bhearing 1 e-koening a. pancita ey in beblooKcieag, the stars and seeing the thought of not @9°0 tO Wort SAVORING 1 a. watting 1b hating Gi e-enjovne K. ‘Papa plugged eholes in the vente wh old PAPE, PUuGGED 7 a. empties pies Ch ev troke ‘5 The onty ing at Panchita Could hear waste BONE of DRONE 1 hung © be work 1 ecwings joted down the rumbar of boxes hay ad ed 1 mca be wow Doma 7. Head not heard English for 0 Tong he wes stated when she Said "May! hap your” ‘sTaRTLED 1 a contsed| 1b. toteres Cle suprises 8. She waited erin to anewer, bathe was speechless sPeccHtess asters bet 1: passed 8, Toe tesche Mr Lema greeted Pareto end eeigned him # ASSIGNED CD agme needed 1 damended 10, “Your sur to ey the stay began reading yesterday” he sad anhusistly ENTHUSIASTICALLY Cnty rey De espaExercise E— Thinking Critically How wel ci you Yea beeen the Ines? The folowing question wil ep you ead cal, Put an Xin the Box nett the covet nsw. 1. The lst entre of The Crout” suggest thet 1D the hac was too sm forthe aly. 1D he fomiy owned many things. [the fami wae about 0 mov age, 2. When Pancttosaw the bore atthe endo the tay he probaly fe a pease, 1D by stacked and saa 1B ecqute cain 2. hic soem inte? 1D the fra waked ard an tong fe very te mary. 1. The fat cid not work very hata The fam usualy worked in tho sume place l your. ‘The sory shows hom much Fanci aed Cl a nen crs 1 betancy eating. 1 e educston 5. The Creu le tue story: Wemay inert the author was (a Paps 1 bata, 1. Poncnita. Te