was beginning to spit out a fine drizzle. Amelia ran with soaked shoes, her

do you always run awa

t the terminal, Amelia. He was ru

r like him. She remembered him vaguely: his smell of diesel and cigarettes, his voice of scraped stone, his in

creaked as it c

through the gaps in the wooden walls, and the ceiling dripped with the insistence of an open wound. One drop. Another. And anothe

e came from the corner where an old

bel

e flushed with fever, her body weak, her eyes large and scared. Her nose

melia said, falling to

mother. Her mother when she was still laughing. When abandonment hadn't yet

u eaten

a shook

urmured. "Just a piece of

a second. She swallowed.

le, barely usable stove. She checked the cupboards. Nothing. Just a ja

r purse. She co

hree ce

have enough

il the mold was gone, and broke it in half. She sprinkled a little salt on top. Lik

it to h

ur favorite," she s

h a lump in her throat. She had a fever. Not high, but enough to worry her. And the

Dad

on was a s

a swa

But don't worry. I'll take

now tangled and sticki

ficult for her. Amelia watched her eat with a mixture of tenderness and gui

rated in her pocke

now?" she answered

for a guy named Gordo Nino and disappeared. He never came back for his truck, and the

o that. He

n with more debt than so

hung

still labored. She wet a rag and put it on her forehead. Her fever wasn'

go back to work

on the marble floor she was mopping. His voice laden with contempt. Bu

had he only seen the maid w

dn't

t under the leak. The rain continued to fall, drop b

wouldn't

led like a shadow, and a world that reminded her ev

ld return to the

nity is swallowed like

ng is also a fo

into the yard. The ground was damp, her sandals sticking to the mud

uri

Where a

to know if you kn

the other end

be there. It'

d my fat

It's something more. Something he didn't want to tell me. But if he

rt stopped f

are t

careful. And if you see anyone

all c

her cell phone s

m the north, carrying debris and threats. The dri

d up at the

d no o

Isabe

her h

that had ye

pride. Mop in hand, invisible smile. She would look again at t

would ke

she coul

sister dep

en if it was poo