Disappeared by Francisco X. Stork

Author:Francisco X. Stork
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2017-10-19T04:00:00+00:00

“Emiliano!” Javier says when he sees Emiliano at the door.

“Come in, come in!” Javier’s mother says.

Everyone turns when Emiliano enters. The room is full of an energy that feels like happiness. Marta stands so Emiliano can take her chair. Nieves grabs his hand. Mrs. Robles goes to the red cooler to fill a glass with water. Rosario rises from the couch and turns the fan on. Emiliano notices that she has a beauty that reveals itself only slowly.

“I don’t have any more piñatas,” Javier says. “We had to take Marta to the emergency room yesterday.”

Marta looks as if she will crumple to the floor any second. “Thank you,” Emiliano says to her. “You sit. I can’t stay. I need to talk to Javier for a few minutes.” Then to Javier, “You want to take a walk?”

“All right,” Javier says, with slight apprehension.

Javier is the most mature of all the Jiparis. Even at fourteen, he has lived more, seen more, and felt more than most adults. Emiliano has always felt close to him because they share a special bond: They both want nothing to do with their fathers. Javier’s father is in Mexico City, maybe alive and maybe dead, no one knows. One day, while he was out on a binge, Mrs. Robles put everyone on a bus and came to Juárez, where she heard the assembly plants were hiring. The family lives in fear that one day he will find them.

Emiliano blinks a few times when they step outside.

“I know, it’s like a cave in there,” Javier says, laughing.

“How do you do your homework? How do you work on those piñatas with so little light?”

“You grow raccoon eyes after a while.” Javier makes circles around his eyes with his thumbs and index fingers. Then, turning serious, he says, “That was a lot of money you left us yesterday. More than three piñatas’ worth. Thanks.”

Emiliano nods. They walk side by side toward the bus stop half a mile down the hill, then pause to sit on the rusty hood of an abandoned car. A squealing pig with two barefoot kids behind it runs on the dirt road in front of them. Javier watches with delight while Emiliano wonders how to say what he wants to say. He had a speech along the lines of Mr. Esmeralda’s, but right there and then, with the smell of raw sewage making it hard to breathe, telling Javier that there’s no way to be successful without getting a little dirty seems inappropriate for some reason.

“So what is it?” Javier asks. In the distance, it sounds as if the pig has been caught.

Emiliano takes a deep breath, which he immediately regrets. He searches for a source of the smell more specific than the whole neighborhood and notices a stream of water flowing down the hill behind them.

“Wouldn’t it be good if you could get out of this place?” Emiliano asks.

Javier shrugs. “There’s worse places.”

Is he serious? Javier is smiling, but Emiliano can tell that he also meant what he said.

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