Hard Red Spring by Kelly Kerney Page B

want?”
    Evie didn’t know. There were too many colors to choose from, ones that surely didn’t exist in Guatemala. So many things existed in New York and not here. There must be colors she did not even know about.
    â€œWell?” Mother’s aggressive cheer began to sour with Evie’s hesitation.
    â€œGreen and orange?”
    â€œA
green and orange
coat.” Mother studied her, disappointed. “Those colors don’t even match, Evie. You’ve acquired the fashion sense of an Indian.”
    Evie sat on the porch and packed the silverware into its velvet-lined box, trying to decide if she was happy to leave. She always thought she missed New York, but she missed things her mother had told her about, not what she actually remembered. And by now she knew her parents’ descriptions of a place should not be trusted. Electricity and toilets could turn out to be just as disappointing as being rich in the land of bananas. The best she could do at imagining New York was to picture a bigger version of the Frenchman’s shop: a land so full of nice, expensive things that broke too easily to have much fun with them. Of course, that was why manners were so important there.
    She had decided upon a cautious joy, convincing herself that of course Father would come along. This was what she was thinking when she saw the lone figure walking up their road. A head rising over the crest, then shoulders, then a body. An odd illusion: someone being born from the road itself.
    She watched at first unafraid, because she saw that the figure had shoes on, was nicely dressed. Not a ghost. Then she the remembered Mr. Ubico, how nicely he had been dressed with his pistol and savage smile. And here he was, in the same cream-colored suit. She cried out in fright, remembering how he’d touched that gun and looked at Father. How he’d said he was in charge of everyone, not just Indians.
    â€œWell, isn’t that a sight?” Mother frowned, with her hand shading her eyes in the open doorway. “Don’t be afraid, Evie. It’s just Judas. In a new suit.”
    Father rolled out of bed to see for himself. He looked as stunned as Evie to find his meeting with Ubico had been a success.
    â€œWe’re still going, Robert,” Mother said, watching Judas part the clinging mountain mists. “You can come if you want.”
    â€œNo,” Father murmured, looking at nothing with his blue eyes, veined with red. “No one’s going anywhere, Mattie. There’s no money left behind the bureau. I gave it to Ubico.”
    With a gasp, Mother rushed into the parlor. She struggled with the weight of the bureau, but Father did not help or even turn around. “How did you find it? Evie, did you show him?”
    â€œI didn’t!”
    â€œI’m sorry, Mattie.” And he did sound sorry. “I don’t have the energy anymore to start new somewhere else. I have a plan.”
    â€œDo you realize we’re trapped here?” She shook her head in amazement, trying to process this terrifying turn, while sinking to the floor. “We have
nothing
. Not a peso.”
    â€œThat’s not true, Mattie. We always have your mother.”
    â€œThe telegraph’s still down, Robert. It’ll take weeks for a letter to reach her, weeks for a reply. Your credit’s run out at the bank. We have nothing. We couldn’t leave if a mob of Indians stormed the house with machetes.”
    Evie felt her mouth drop open. Machetes? Then she felt a hand on her head.
    â€œMattie, you’re scaring Evie. She doesn’t realize you’re joking.”
    â€œOf course I’m just joking, Evie.” Mother stood up, wiped her eyes clear with a trembling hand. Then she steadied herself on the bureau.
    Father picked Evie up, smiling. “There are no Indians left, except women. And we processed two bags of cochineal last night. With Judas’s help, we’ll have more today.