'We wish we were those kids'

McALLEN - There are signs in the house in McAllen that immediately suggest two teenage girls now live there on their own:

The kitschy retro lamp prominently displayed on a living room end table.

The kitchen trash can filled with grease-stained fast-food wrappers.

And an Audrey Hepburn poster in the entryway that would look more natural hanging on the wall of a freshman dorm room than in the foyer of a family home.

But, then again, Casey Guerrero and her half sister Sarah Martinez are not a traditional family.

The death of their mother five years ago left them orphaned, forced them into jobs to support themselves and initiated a chain of events that eventually led to Casey, 18, becoming her 16-year-old sister's legal guardian.

Now, the McAllen siblings who had to grow up too fast cling to whatever tokens of their childhood they have left.

"We don't have anyone to lean on," Casey said. "Everything we need, we have to do it ourselves."

The sisters are the 12th and final family featured in the 11th annual "12 Days of Christmas." The series, coordinated by the United Way and The Monitor, profiles local families in need and asks Rio Grande Valley residents to help them in their time of hardship.

‘I WOULD WORK ALL NIGHT'

Casey's decision to become her sister's guardian this fall is a surprising one, considering that the two were not even speaking until six months ago.

The girls grew up in the cramped McAllen home with their seven brothers and sisters.

But when their mother came down with uterine cancer in 2003, the family grew farther and farther apart.

After their mother's death, all remaining members of the Guerrero family moved in with their oldest brother.

But that arrangement - in a small apartment that he also shared with his girlfriend - could hardly last for long.

Within months, the siblings were parceled out to homes. Some struck out on their own. Others were assigned to brothers and aunts to help share the financial burden.

Sarah, 11 at the time, stayed with her oldest brother, while Casey, 13, moved in with a friend.

"I didn't want us to separate," Sarah said. "I didn't even have my sister's phone number."

Although they lived separately, the following years of Casey and Sarah's lives played along similar paths.

Each bounced from home to home, leaving one place when the emotional or financial toll of living with another family became too much.

Each sought jobs as soon as they were old enough to help pay part of their own way.

And each struggled to balance the stress of their jobs and home lives with their schoolwork.

"I would go to work all night and went to school just for a chance to sleep," said Sarah.

Then this summer, things changed.

Feeling more and more isolated, Sarah reached out to her older sister.

Within months they had moved out of homes they were unhappy with and moved in with a mutual friend.

Now, the two are trying to patch up their childhood house in hopes of starting a life together.

They have a lot of work to go.

‘THEY HAVE A NICE LIFE'

The home is almost uninhabitable after years of lying dormant.

The walls are filled with gaping holes.

The lone bathroom doesn't work.

And rats creep across the linoleum floors at night.

Just turning the power and water back on after five years became a monumental challenge.

After discovering the residence had hundreds of dollars in unpaid utility bills, the girls had to save for weeks to afford the reactivation fees.

Despite their mom's death five years ago, the title to the house remains in her name, and finding time for home repairs between school and work is nearly impossible.

The pressures became so overwhelming last month that Sarah considered dropping out of school.

"I was failing all of my classes anyway," she said. "I thought I could get another job to help out with money so Casey could keep going to school."

Casey would have none of it. She shared her situation with counselors at McAllen Rowe High School who have since taken the girls under their wing.

"I don't want Sarah thinking things like that," she said. "That's my job."

The girls now appear to have found some momentary peace together.

Sarah has cut back to part-time hours at a local McDonald's and has rededicated herself to her schoolwork.

Casey, who admits she could do better in class, has already begun planning for life after graduation this year.

"I want to be a teacher or a counselor," she said. "Hopefully, I can get into (South Texas College) or (University of Texas-Pan American). It's still up in the air."

But talk too long about the future, and the hardened look of a much older woman descends on Casey's guarded face.

Come May, there will still be bills that need paying.

Her sister will still need her support.

And a slew of other adult-world obstacles will undoubtedly arise to push those college goals further and further away.

"Our friends - they have a nice life," Casey said from her front porch on a recent Saturday afternoon, as she apprehensively watched a group of children playing in the street. "If they don't feel like going to work, they don't have to. If they want to hang out, they can do it whenever they want."

Sarah gave her sister a hug, laid her head on Casey's shoulder and quietly replied:

"We wish we were those kids."

____

Jeremy Roebuck covers courts and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4437.