“At hearing the news, he unsuccessfully tried to stop himself from being happy. He wondered how it happened that his average grades and middling job experience were somehow deemed weightier than genuine life skills – Renato’s naked ambition, Angela’s people skills, Vincent’s quick thinking, Imaculada’s grit – only because he articulated them better, just because he had the English nouns and verbs, the necessary tongue and lip placements, to say, ‘I have made these myself. Listen.”
