"The story of Broken Chains" was written by Gary Soto. Gary Soto was born and raised in Fresno, California, the setting of many of his stories, poems, and autobiographical pieces. In his writing, Soto tries to recreate the sights and sounds of he Mexican American neighbourhood in which he grew up.
The story is about Alfonso's first date. The story presents problems like the ones many of us face. He worries a lot about how he looks, and everything seems to go wrong.
Here we have a paraphrased version of the passage shown in the question:
When he was four years old, he decided to face the situation and make it to Sandra's house, walking doubtfully and slowly as walking in the water up to his waist. His face was red by the shame. He wondered at how things could go wrong in this his first date, Sandra would probably laugh at him.
