Flowers in the Sky by Lynn Joseph

Author:Lynn Joseph [Joseph, Lynn]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2013-04-10T07:00:00+00:00

IT WAS FRIDAY EVENING, and the summer heat shimmered on everyone’s faces. Most of our neighborhood was outdoors, fanning themselves. Children played in open fire hydrants spouting cool water. I had to cook with a fan blowing right on me, and I was still dripping with perspiration, my hair pinned up on my head like a turban.

Darrio and I went to send money home to Mami. It was a special Friday for me because the small lady’s slipper orchid had blossomed right on my fire escape before I expected it. I planned to give it to Señora Rivera, and I couldn’t wait to surprise her.

“What’s that you got there?” asked one of the Latin Star girls. Her crew peered down at my hands.

I walked quickly, trying to make it inside the store.

I pushed past them and tried to open the door, but it was too late.

I felt a hand pull on my shirt and another one tug on my hair. The flowerpot tumbled out of my hands and hit the concrete steps, shattering into a hundred small pieces. The plastic pot inside it with the flower tumbled out and rolled on its side dislodging the plant completely. My purple orchid lay like a sparkling jewel amidst the shards of pottery and bark.

There were muffled giggles as the girls covered their mouths with their hands.

“We’re so sorry, princessa.”

“It was an accident.”

“It’s just a flower.”

I closed my eyes and clenched my fists. I had had it. As the girls laughed, my anger swirled around me like a dust cloud. I picked up a broken piece of pottery and hurled it at them. Bam! The snake girl jumped back as it landed at her feet. “Are you crazy?” she shouted. I would have thrown another piece, but then I smelled something heartbreaking: barbershop powder and aftershave.

I looked up and there was Luis, standing next to me, his large, brown hands carefully shaking loose pieces of bark from around my flower.

“What kind of flower is this?” he asked softly, ignoring the girls around us.

His eyes were greener than the hills back home.

“It’s an orchid.”

“Where’d you buy it?”

“I didn’t. I grew it.” My heart was beating fast. He was holding the flower in his hand so carefully.

“They can’t make this, so they want to destroy it,” he said, loud enough for them to hear. “Forgive them, they have inferiority complexes.”

I didn’t understand his words, but I felt his meaning. I nodded my head.

“It was a present for Señora Rivera at the colmado.”

“You never told me you grew orchids.”

“You never gave me the chance.”

“Just like you didn’t have a chance to tell Darrio about me, right?”

“I said I was sorry.”

“So you’ve told him now?”

I was too ashamed to answer.

“I take that as a no.”

“Well, I didn’t know if I’d see you again.”

Luis’s lips pressed into a firm line. “I knew this was going to happen.” He reached out his hand to me. I was mad at his comment so I brushed his hand away.

“I didn’t take you for the game-playing type, Nina.

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