From left: Carmen's father, Carlos Agra; sister, Tersi Agra Bendiburg; Carmen Agra Deedy; and mother, Esther Ponz Agra, several years after arriving in the United States. Photo courtesy of Carmen Agra Deedy. When I was in middle school, my social studies teacher encouraged me to enter a writing contest, sponsored...

From the first day, George proved himself possessed of two utterly disarming traits: an insatiable intellectual curiosity and a love for Italian leather shoes that bordered on the fanatical, even for a fox terrier.I had found a soul mate.This said, after he most deliberately—and ironically—devoured a pair of Ferragamo kitten...