Butterfly Boy: Memories of a Chicano Mariposa

Rigoberto and his father are on their third bus on the way to Michoacán. Rigoberto’s father tells him a story of a time he was on a bus and fell into conversation with an old woman who told him that she had sewn all of her money into the lining of her quilt because she doesn’t trust banks. When the bus stopped, Rigoberto’s father got off the bus to get something to eat, and when he came back, she seemed to be asleep. The next morning, he and the driver discovered that the woman was dead. When Rigoberto’s father has told Rigoberto the story in the past, he included a detail where the woman had pleaded with him to tell her family that her money was in the quilt, but Rigoberto’s father didn’t, instead continuing on his journey. This time, Rigoberto’s father omits that detail and acts confused when Rigoberto prompts him about it.

Rigoberto tells his father when they reach Zacapu that they should split up and not to ask him for any more money. His father laughs, and, instead of responding, he points at a town on the mountainside, saying, “What would it have been like to have had a steady home?” (168).