In the chapter Miami, Florida, Flaco relates to us his life story. Because of the civil unrest and violence in Puerto Rico, Flaco and his family had taken a plane to Miami when Flaco was eleven years old.
Flaco tells of the difficulties he encountered at school in Miami. Because he spoke no English, he was soon put in a school for 'retarded children.' Flaco had not enjoyed going to school and he remembers having numerous arguments with his father about the subject of schooling. Flaco's father had felt that going to school would allow Flaco to have a better life in America. However, Flaco had not agreed. At the age of fourteen, he had found work at a restaurant where he was soon given the name, Flaco, which means 'skinny' or 'thin.' Flaco remembers that, after he gave his father his first paycheck to help pay the family's rent, all pretense about schooling had gone out the window.
According to Flaco, he had enjoyed working at this first restaurant. The waitresses had all called him Flaco and had showered him with food; Flaco had felt that he was part of a community, and he continued working for the restaurant for four years until it closed.
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