Connie noticed that the boys and girls were rather thin as if they did not have enough to eat. Some of them were barefoot, while others wore huaraches or straw sandals.
Nearly all of the men in the camp had sarapes thrown across their shoulders. The sarapes really were colorful blankets with a slit in the middle.
Excited to have visitors, Juan escorted them about the camp, showing them everything. He introduced the girls to his mother, to his father and to his aging grandmother.
Everyone was so friendly that the Brownies began to think they had made a serious mistake ever to believe they would find their missing quilt in the camp.
“Veve was right,” Connie whispered to Eileen. “Juan and the Mexicans are nice—just like other people. You must have been mixed up.”
“Well—maybe,” Eileen admitted unwillingly. “But I didn’t think so at the time. I was sure I saw the quilt or something that looked exactly like it.”
Juan next took the girls to see his goat, Peter, who was staked down near one of the tents. The animal had nibbled away so much grass that the ground was bare all around him.
“Did you make much money today picking cherries?” Veve asked her little friend.
He shrugged his shoulders, replying briefly: “Enough.”
A moment later, he added: “What do I need of money? The sun is la capa do los pobres.”