Mañanaland

Max starts to fall asleep on the boat trip back. He’s half asleep when Yadra invites him to hold tomorrow in his hand: “Drag your hand in the river. Scoop up the water but keep your fingers pressed tight like a cup. Tomorrow is there” (220). The scene is magical and dream-like. Max sees himself hold the water, which feels different to him than Buelo had described it, not “warm and syrupy” but like “a large, solid bubble, wet and slippery, like the yolk of a fresh egg” (220). It glows. Yadra offers Max wisdom about life: how even though he might “witness the best and the worst in people’’ (221) over time, Papá and Buelo’s love can help support Max through the struggles he encounters. Max realizes that life is always uncertain, but that doesn’t mean his dreams are impossible: “The unknown was a sliver of light streaming through a crack and beyond…to all the possibilities he could not yet see” (221-22).

Later, Yadra wakes Max from sleep. They have arrived back at Yadra’s house. Max thanks Yadra for all she has done. They will likely see each other again sometime in the future now Max is a guardian. While the future is uncertain, there is always possibility.

Max begins the journey home with a new sense of purpose, “never questioning that the path he was on was leading to a place he wanted to go” (225). A peregrine falcon seems to follow him as he travels.

Max returns to Santa Maria and runs into Papá. They hug. Papá arrived back in town that morning and left to find Max as soon as he heard where Max had gone. Papá is not mad that Max helped Isadora without permission or that Max looked through Papá’s personal papers. Papá is just relieved Max is home safe. Max tells Papá about his journey as a guardian and Papá finally tells Max about his mother.

Max’s mother had arrived in Santa Maria with a group of women escaping Abismo. Max’s mother had a sprained ankle and could not make the journey. Papá wanted to give Max’s mother a better life, so he asked her to marry him. She agreed. They married and moved to nearby San Clemente, so no one would discover Max’s mother was from Abismo. They moved back to Santa Maria after Max was born and told everyone Papá met Max’s mother in San Clemente. Max’s mother seemed happy, until one day Papá left shortly for a bridge job. While he was gone, Max’s mother escorted two hidden ones to safety and then never came back. Buelo and Papá learned that Max’s mother had been preparing to leave for a while: “She had cleaned, done the laundry, stocked the cupboards, and had sewn clothes for you in different sizes. They were all laid out in neat stacks on the table” (234). She left nothing behind that could be traced to her, except the note Max had found earlier. After Papá recovered from his heartbreak, he looked for Max’s mother to try to get back the papers she took. Papá worried she might come back and take Max away. The fear Max could be taken away is why Papá and Max’s family are so protective, never allowing Max to go places by himself. However, Max is growing up now, and Papá finally sees this.

Papá has nearly solved the issue of Max’s birth certificate. However, it still might not be fixed in time for tryouts. Max has accepted that life is uncertain, and both Max and Papá hope luck will be on their side.

The book moves forward to the end of fútbol season. Max has made the team, though he’s playing forward. Ortiz’s hard work over the summer earned him the spot of goalie. Max is happy to be continuing his family legacy: a legacy of fútbol players, bridge-builders, and Guardians of the Hidden Ones. Max plays fútbol with a pair of new Volantes fútbol shoes that he earned through his hard work as Papá’s apprentice.

Max makes the winning score for his team and the crowd cheers. His family are all watching from the stands. Max looks around the stadium for his mother and Isadora, as he always does, “just in case the impossible became possible” (243) and they happen to be watching. He waves. Just in case.

Buelo, Papá, Max, Lola, and Churro all sit around the living space at home, preparing for an evening of storytelling. Max begins telling the story of a princess who must escape neglectful parents and a possessive dragon. The princess falls in love and marries a man in secret, causing the dragon to destroy his lands, leaving everything in ruins except a tower. The princess and husband leave the kingdom and one day a baby is born. The dragon discovers the family and steals the princess away. He transforms the princess into a peregrine falcon and locks her in the tower. One day, however, the princess escapes and now lives amongst the other birds. Sometimes, though, she flies over the village looking for her husband and child, singing a lullaby.

Papá and Buelo are moved by the story.

Before bed, Max looks outside his window at Le Reina Gigante, the tower, and asks her: “La Reina, do you believe in happy endings?” (247). She seems to nod yes.