Page 203 of The Moon Sister
‘You can tell my fortune?’ The man looked down at her.
It was Isadora’s turn to say she didn’t understand. ‘Mi prima, Angelina.’ Isadora pointed to the plaza. ‘She very good,’ she said, as she stretched out her palm and mimed the reading of it.
‘Why not?’ The man shrugged as he licked his ice cream and indicated that Isadora should lead the way.
Angelina was just finishing with another client and Isadora held back whilst the money was exchanged.
‘Here,’ she said, when the woman had walked away, ‘I have a man for you. His Spanish isn’t good,’ she whispered quickly.
‘Hola, señor,’ Angelina smiled her brightest smile. ‘I see hand?’ she asked in English. ‘Then I tell you about your daughter.’
‘My daughter?’
Seeing the man’s shocked face, like all Angelina’s clients had when she told them a secret she somehow knew, Isadora walked away and went to finish her ice cream in the shade of an awning across the plaza. She hoped that she would receive a few céntimos in commission from Angelina for bringing the man to her. Perhaps she would buy a present for her grandmother with it. Just as she was thinking this and also feeling sad that Andrés had not yet appeared at the café, a black and white kitten appeared from the alleyway next to her and began to weave its skinny body around her legs.
‘Oh! You’re so sweet,’ Isadora said as she picked the kitten up in her arms and it began to purr. ‘Maybe I could take you home as a present forAbuela,’ she said as she kissed its head. Looking across the plaza, she saw that the man she had taken to Angelina was walking away. She crossed towards her cousin, still holding the kitten.
‘Look what I found.’ Isadora looked up hopefully, but Angelina’s eyes were still following her customer. ‘Look!’ she demanded. ‘Can we take him home, Angelina?Please,’ she begged.
‘No, you know we cannot. We can hardly feed our own mouths, let alone animals. Now, I am too tired and hot for more clients, and we must go home.’
‘What about my ice cream?’
‘You already had one, didn’t you, you naughty girl. That man bought one for you. There is so much sadness in the world . . .Ay,’ Angelina brushed her hand across her eyes. ‘Now, put that kitten back where you found him and we will go.’
Isadora did so, sulking because it was a long hot walk home, she hadn’t seen Andrés and, no matter how hard she begged, she was not allowed to have a pet of her own.
‘Did you make good money this morning?’ she asked Angelina; she was used to her cousin’s silences when they returned from her seeing.Abuelasaid it drained her energy, so she would always try to cheer her up on the walk home.
‘Yes, that man gave me ten pesetas.’
‘Ten pesetas!’ Isadora clapped her hands. ‘Why aren’t you happy?’
‘Because even if they arepayos, I wish I didn’t have to take their money, that I could see for them for free.’
‘You don’t take money from thegitanoswho come to see you, do you?’
‘No, but that is because they have none.’ Angelina smiled down at her weakly, then ruffled her head. ‘You are a good girl, Isadora. And I am sorry if I am cross sometimes.’
‘I understand.’ Isadora patted her hand. ‘It is a big burden you carry,’ she said solemnly, repeating the words she had heard María use three nights ago when one of her neighbours had come to their cave, begging for a potion to save her seventy-year-old mother. Angelina had given it, but when the woman had gone, she had shaken her head. ‘She will be dead by morning, and there is nothing I can do.’
‘Well, that is kind of you to say, but my gift is also a great privilege. And I should not complain.’ She stopped suddenly and hugged Isadora to her. ‘I love you,querida, and we must spend the time we have been granted together happily.’
*
A month later, as the heat of June melted into an even hotter July, Isadora came home to find a stranger sitting in her grandmother’s kitchen. She looked up at María, who was sitting in her wooden rocking chair, her eyes red-raw from crying.
‘What is it? What has happened,Abuela?’ she said, ignoring the man and walking across the kitchen to clamber into María’s lap.
‘Ay, Isadora, I . . .’ María did her best to compose herself as she put her arms around her granddaughter. ‘I am so sorry,querida, so sorry . . .’
‘What is it? What has happened? You all look so sad.’ Isadora stared at the man sitting at the table nursing a glass of Ramón’s special brandy. ‘Who is he?’
‘Well, that is the happy news.’ María managed a weak smile. ‘This is Pepe, your uncle.’
‘Pepe! You mean your son who lives in America?’ Isadora’s expressive eyes turned back to María. ‘My uncle?’
‘I do, yes.’
