“Mom, I made a friend today!” Melina couldn’t contain her excitement.
“Great.”
Mrs. Marquíz was, as usual, painting in the “guest room.” In actuality, it had been transformed into an art studio. Domenica Marquíz used it to paint a mural on the wall.
“Her name is Paraguas Paz, and she’s from Miami like us!” Melina walked into the room, and her mouth fell open.
“What did you do, Mom?”
Staring back at her were three figures, two wearing white lab coats. The other was Mrs. Marquíz, and she looked nervous.
“What? Nothing, honey.”
Melina felt a little nauseous. The lights in the painting seem to shine almost too brightly. And Melina noticed something.
“Why is Tulio there?”
“Because he wants to be. He’s your classmate, right?” Mrs. Marquíz opened another can of paint.
Melina closed her eyes and stumbled out of the room.
“I don’t feel well…”
But in a moment she felt better, and she climbed the stairs to her room. It was full of strange artifacts that Melina liked to collect. There were handmade glass bottles, scarves of cloth from her aunts that were adorned with Quechuan poems, and a collection of CDs that hung from colored strings. (It was art; Melina didn’t have a CD player.) In the corner, a yellow parrot perched in its cage.
Melina too one of the cloths and use it to tie up her hair. Almost on cue, the doorbell rang. It was Paraguas.
“Hi! Come in!” Melina greeted her friend.
“Hi,” said Paraguas. “I came to play. Is that ok?”
“Yeah, of course,” said Melina. “But I want to do something different.”
“What?”
“I want to get my doll back.”
“Now?” Paraguas seemed uncomfortable.
“No… first we need a plan.”
Tulio was sitting in the living room when he heard a noise. Ramona and Charlie Miller, friends from the US, were visiting and talking politics with his mother. It didn’t matter to Tulio, so he spent the time thinking about Melina. She was strange, yes, but he knew that that didn’t give him the right to hurt her. He had only wanted to make fun of her. And, of course, he felt guilty. Nobody knew that he had caused the “accident.” Tulio was relieved that nobody could blame him.
So, when he heard the noise, and he turned to see Melina staring at him through the trees, he thought it was a hallucination. He gasped in surprise, and jumped a little.
“What is it?” asked his mother.
Tulio looked again; nothing was there.
“Nothing,” he said. “Can I go to the bathroom?”
“Of course, dear. Come back, because we’re going to have cake in a moment.”
Melina and Paraguas had decided to sneak off to Tulio’s house to get the doll back.
“But how are we going to get inside?” asked Paraguas.
“Don’t worry about it. We don’t need to enter.” Melina tied her braids into a ponytail because she didn’t want them to make noise.
And they tiptoed through the streets.
Tulio’s house was very small, but clean and picturesque. Melina could see him sitting on the couch with his mother. He didn’t seem to be having the best of times, and so Melina laughed.
“This is Tulio?” whispered Paraguas.
“Yep.”
“He doesn’t seem too mean…”
At that moment, Tulio turned and saw the two girls.
“Duck!”
A bush in front of them covered their view.
“The doll is in his room,” said Melina.
“How do you know?”
“Unless he threw it out.” Melina looked at the house. It was only one story, so the bedroom had to be in the back.
“Follow me.”
Melina crouched down and walked in silence around the house. Of course, there was a bedroom in the back full of things for a boy.
“Look! He still uses Buzz Lightyear sheets.” Paraguas giggled.
“Haha, and he has a night light.” Melina pointed to it. “Rosalita!” She had seen it on a shelf.
“We need to break the window,” said Paraguas. “Let’s see…”
“Wait,” Melina said. “My grandmother taught me that allspirit dolls have a power about themselves. And That they have a connection to the owner. If someone knows how to use that power, they can do whatever.”
Melina felt her eyes burning with the fire of a hundred suns. She tasted the intensity in the air, awash with vivid pricks of moonlight.
“Come here…” she thought, fixating on the doll. Paraguas grabbed her arm to support herself.
“Melina!” Paraguas gasped in surprise.
The doll flew slowly through the air.
“How are you doing this?”
“I don’t know.” A thrill of excitement trilled through Melina’s blood. She was doing magic!
The window flew open as Rosalita passed through. In a moment, Melina grabbed her and hugged her. And at the same time, the door slammed open. Tulio stared at the two girls, his mouth open in an “o” of surprise.
“Run!” Melina laughed, charging from the yard.
“Wait for me!” paraguas yelled from behind.
Neither of the girls stopped until they had arrived at Melina’s house. Tulio hadn’t followed them, thank God.
“We did it!” Melina said as she collapsed in a fit of giggles. “Can you believe it?”
“No. That was amazing!”
The door opened.
“What are you doing?” It was her mother. “Melina, it’s 10 o-clock at night. You need to sleep for school tomorrow. Tell your friend to come back tomorrow.”
“Alright. Bye, Paraguas.” Melina smiled at her new friend. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Goodnight.”
The door closed. The night twinkled.
0 comments:
Post a Comment