Explore "The Nine Guardians" by Rosario Castellanos on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
The wooden chest with her clothes in it is still in Nana's room: the tzec with its many-coloured ribbons; the frilly blouse; the Guatemalan shawl; and, wrapped in a piece of silk, the pebbles I brought from Chactajal. I gather them up and put them in my blouse to keep them warm. Then I go in to breakfast, into the dining-room with its high ceiling and dark furniture, amid the clatter of metal spoons against plates that keep clamouring for attention.
Then the lonely wandering round the house. It's so huge. The garden where Mother has been sowing dahlia seeds; and a patio; and the back yard. And the bedrooms. And the veranda. And the pantry. All empty, even though other people such as Aunt Romelia have come to live with us.