Estrella is at work picking bunches of grapes; she thinks about the inaccuracy of the raisin boxes depicting a harvester with “smiling, ruby lips,” and remembers how her mother began bringing her to the fields when she was 4 years old (49). She is interrupted in her work by Ricky, who looks “feverish,” and whom she scolds for not yet “know[ing] how to work with the sun” (53). Just before the piscadores prepare to go home for the day, Estrella gives away a peach she’d saved to another worker.

Interspersed with Estrella’s experiences of the day are Alejo’s experiences. He is also picking grapes. He thinks about the odd jobs his grandmother takes on to support his education: “His grandmother had reassured him, this field work was not forever. And every time he awoke to the pisca, he thought only of his last day here and his first day in high school” (52). At one point, he catches sight of Estrella, realizes he has been working alongside her all day, and hopes she will notice him as well. She doesn’t, but he sees her again as she walks home at the end of the day, while

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