An Uninterrupted View of the Sky by Melanie Crowder

Author:Melanie Crowder
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2017-05-09T15:52:15+00:00

Papá comes inside after the prisoner count. Shadows rim his eye sockets.

The mattress is our bed and our couch and our dinner table. The three of us sit in a row facing the last of the light that comes in through the open doorway. All evening, the ghosts of my old life have been hanging over my shoulders and whispering in my ears.

I keep stopping and starting the same dense article about educational systems in South America and getting nowhere. I give the rice one last stir and unplug the hot plate from the outlet that hangs from a wire sticking out of a hole in the ceiling. Pilar hands me the bowls one by one, and I spoon out our dinner.

“Have a seat, Papá,” I say as I stick a spoon in his bowl and give it to him. “Eat.”

I pass Pilar her bowl. “Well, are you going to tell him?”

Pilar sets her dinner aside and clasps her hands in front of her, scooting on her knees until she’s right next to Papá. “In December, before Francisco’s birthday on the seventh, he’s going to take me to live with Abuela and Abuelo.” Pilar lifts the spoon to her lips and blows. “But not before, Papá.”

Papá looks between the two of us and opens his mouth to speak, but Pilar raises a hand to stop him. “That’s the deal. We get to stay with you a while longer. And then I will go. I don’t want to, but I’ll do it for you.”

Pilar leans over and kisses Papá on the cheek. “I will write you a letter every day. And you will write me a poem every week.”

Papá smiles. “Okay, wawitay. We’ll make it work somehow until then.” He returns Pilar’s kiss and then he leans across her to grip my shoulder. He waits until I meet his eyes. “And you?”

“Someone has to stay in the city, to check on you, Papá.”

“I don’t want you throwing away your life for me, Francisco.”

My life? That’s over. Even if the things I wanted and the way things were before was even still possible, I couldn’t just go off and live my life while Papá is stuck in prison. I couldn’t do that.

Maybe I’m not as much like Mamá as I thought.

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