Pilar also constructs her own romantic visual of her grandmother. Pilar catches her father kissing another woman and decides to run away to Cuba and imagines how her grandmother would react to her arrival. “I imagine Abuela Celia’s surprise as I sneak up behind her. She’ll be sitting in her wicker swing overlooking the sea and she’ll smell of salt and violet water. There’ll be gulls and crabs along the shore. She’ll stroke my cheek with her cool hands, sing quietly in my ear” (García, 26). Pilar claims to have memories of Cuba even though Pilar was only an infant. Pilar relies on these memories to create an image of her grandmother overlooking the ocean in Santa Teresa del Mar. She remembers the scent of the saltwater, the ocean water, and