I Pledge Allegiance (3 page)

On Thursday, Mrs. Adams says, “Libby, would you like to lead our class in saying the Pledge?”

I walk to the front of the room. Everyone is looking at me. I think of Lobo’s smile. I stand up very straight and put my hand over my heart. I take a deep breath.

Together we say, “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

At home, I tell my mom and Lobo that I remembered all the words. Lobo and I practice one more time. Mom claps and hugs us.

On Friday, Lobo wears a new blue dress. Mom, Lobo, and I hold hands when we walk into a big room. There are so many people! A woman in a black robe stands at the front of the room. She looks like a judge on TV. We all sit down. Everyone is very quiet.

The judge says, “Today is a happy day.” She asks all the new citizens to stand.

Mom whispers that I can stand with Lobo. The judge says, “Please place your right hand over your heart.”

Lobo and I stand very straight, like trees. We put our hand over our heart. We smile.

Then we both say, “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.”

Our aunt Ygnacia Delgado was a very special lady. A young woman during the Mexican Revolution of 1910, she came to El Paso, Texas, with her sisters and father, who had been a circuit judge in northern Mexico. She never married and often lived with our family. When she’d arrive in the evening after work, she’d call out, “¿Dónde están mis lobitos?” (“Where are my little wolves?”) We all began calling her Lobo and not tía, which means “aunt” in Spanish.

Lobo learned English when she arrived in the United States. She liked books and read encyclopedias, newspapers, and prayer books in Spanish and English. Lobo always wore dresses. She was very devout, very proper.

Lobo became a U.S. citizen in her late seventies and did give the wonderful answer about why she became a citizen that we refer to in the book. Although she had studied hard for her citizenship test, the judge only asked her one question. “Miss Delgado, who is the president
of the United States?
”

Lobo was everything a citizen should be—hardworking, honest, brave, respectful, responsible. And even in her nineties, Lobo was fun. She read to us and played games with us. We all remember her smile.

This book is our first collaboration. It’s an honor to share the story of our intelligent and loving aunt. —Pat Mora and Libby Martinez

The words to the original Pledge, written by Francis Bellamy, were published in The Youth’s Companion, a popular children’s magazine, in 1892. The original Pledge has been modified four times.

Ygnacia
is pronounced eeg-NAH-see-ah.