The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

One day, Frankie goes with Baffa to the sardine factory. While Baffa works, Frankie wanders into the woods. There, he meets Aurora York sitting in a tree. At first, he thinks she’s a boy, but once he climbs up beside her, he’s captivated by her beauty. The two bond when they watch soldiers dump dead bodies into an unmarked grave. After the soldiers leave, Frankie plays the deceased people a song, and he and Aurora make them flowers out of bent guitar strings.

Frankie goes back to Baffa’s factory, but the police are there. When Frankie asks for his papa, Luis, one of Baffa’s employees, lies and tells the police that his papa is sick at home today. Frankie realizes something is desperately wrong, and he runs towards home. Tired from the run, he takes a ride from a group of gypsies, but he must pay for the ride with his guitar. Music says, “On the same day Frankie Presto found love, he lost his home” (107).

Abby is a Latino songwriter in 1961. She’s pregnant and fears she’ll lose her job because she hasn’t produced as many hits as her coworkers. Everyone else is at lunch, and Abby’s playing the piano when Frankie comes in and starts playing an impromptu guitar accompaniment.

After having her baby and taking a maternity leave, she comes back to work to find the sheet music for the song she and Frankie made together. It says, “Written by Frankie Presto and Abby Cruz” (111). That song goes on to be a huge hit, and her job is secure. Over the years, Frankie sends her notes at her office, and one day he meets her little girl. 

When Frankie returns to Baffa’s house, it looks abandoned, and Frankie realizes his father isn’t coming back. Miraculously, their hairless dog shows up at the door, and Frankie puts on a nice outfit, takes the dog, and goes to El Maestro’s. Frankie explains what happened, and El Maestro lets him stay. Music says, “student and teacher had a profound effect on each other, as humans thrown together by trauma often do” (118). To pay for Frankie’s care, El Maestro stops drinking and starts playing at a local bar again. 

Frankie stops going to school and studies music all day with El Maestro. Before Frankie came to live with him, El Maestro was living in regret over the loss of his wife, but living with Frankie has a positive physical effect on him.

El Maestro visits Baffa in prison. Baffa reveals that he’s not Frankie’s real father, and he asks El Maestro to send Frankie away to America. He tells him where he’s hidden his life’s savings.

El Maestro gets Baffa’s money and enlists the help of his supposed friend Alberto, the conga player in his band at the bar. He pays Alberto to lead him around and do the necessary errands to get Frankie out of the country. El Maestro buys Frankie the nicest guitar in the guitar shop and some food, then takes him to the bar that night so that Frankie can watch him perform.

That night, El Maestro drinks at the bar for courage. El Maestro plays unfiltered that night, not caring about the government restrictions on music. Then, he calls Frankie up to the stage and asks him to accompany him in a song. At first, the audience is entranced, but eventually the audience realizes what’s happening and calls Frankie and El Maestro traitors.

Frankie and El Maestro escape, and Alberto drives them to a harbor. On the way, El Maestro gives Frankie his special strings—he says they were a gift from his late wife and are very special. Music, who knows all the paths a life could take, says, “had El Maestro been able to see […] Frankie’s dark grape hair and deep blue eyes and the curl of his lips. He would have seen in the boy’s face the unmistakable reflection of his wife, Carmencita” (150).

El Maestro leaves Frankie with the men, and he’s unable to say goodbye because he’s too sad. When he and Alberto are about to leave, Alberto steals the rest of El Maestro’s money and pushes him into the water, where he presumably drowns.