Desolina and Tony had attended one-room schoolhouses until the third grade. ... According to Tony, there were hardly enough pencils and sober teachers to go around. [Author's grandparents educational background.]

None of my friends had grandparents like these. ... Tony and Desolina were exotic.

...no matter how frequently we came, when we arrived, they acted as if we had been away one hundred years. [His grandparents' greeting.]