Meet Sonia Rodriguez
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A Taste of the Novel
Read an Excerpt
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Hear a Slice of The Secret Story of Sonia Rodriguez
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Read an Excerpt of The Secret Story of Sonia Rodriguez
Chapter Uno
I was born in the United States of America. That makes me legal.
Pero mis padres jumped the border to get here. That makes them illegal.
I have documents.
They don’t.
I speak English.
They don’t.
I have a social security number, a passport and a license to drive.
They don’t. They don’t. They don’t.
Actually, mi papi does have a social security number. 3 of them. You can buy them for fifteen dollars apiece down at the taqueria.
I know it’s wrong but it’s not like he’s doing anything different from anyone else. One vato down the block has fourteen different sets of official state identification cards like he’s the Mexican James Bond or something. That would be funny, James Bond-zales, Agent Double O Siete.
Maybe I shouldn’t write about that. After all, I don’t want to get mi papi in trouble. He only came here for opportunity.
In Mexico, opportunity doesn’t exist. There’s too much poverty. If a person isn’t born rich it’s almost impossible for them to make a living and support their family — so mi papi jumped the border. He hired coyotes, fought off bandidos, bribed Policias and nearly lost his right hand from poison when he was bit by a yellow scorpion in the middle of the desert.
All that to provide a better life for his children. All that for me.
Now I know I don’t write so good. But I’m a Latina. A first generation Latina — or “Hispanic American” or “chicano immigrant” or “wetback puta”, whatever you want to call me. And people should hear the truth. The real truth.
About my secrets. (Secrets which no one has ever heard before.)
I apologize in advance if my book stinks. Like I said, I know I don’t write so good. Yet still, I think my story is important. And some parts are juicy. There is sex and violence and drugs. I know people who read books like that kind of stuff. But there is love too. In my opinion, love stories are the best of all.
But most important, there is truth. And sometimes la verdad — the truth — can save your life.his is here you type a bunch of stuff….
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