Gaby, Lost and Found

Author:Angela Cervantes [Cervantes, Angela]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2012-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

Gaby hated putting Feather in the basement, but it was the safest place for her. If her father came home, he’d never go down there. She arranged newspaper on the floor, careful not to take her father’s classified ads. She topped off a bowl with water and left an open can of tuna mixed with the leftover dry cat food she had taken. Gaby had barely finished making Feather’s new bed, a laundry basket cushioned with an old blanket, when someone pounded on the front door. She hoped it was Alma.

“Coming!” Gaby yelled. More pounding. She took Feather with her and rushed upstairs. She looked out the peephole and growled. It wasn’t Alma. It was Marcos.

She dropped Feather off in her bedroom. “I won’t be long, Feather. It’s only Marcos.” Gaby brushed fur from her shirt, snatched her notebook from the couch, and opened the front door.

“Hey, what took you so long?” Marcos handed her a plastic container. “Cheese enchiladas from the Gomezes.”

“Gracias.”

“De nada,” Marcos said. He looked past her and toward the inside of the house. “Aren’t you going to invite me in?”

Gaby stepped onto the porch and shut the screen door behind her. “Why? It’s so nice outside.”

“Whatever.” Marcos pulled his jacket’s hood over his head and took a seat on the porch steps. He fiddled with his jacket zipper. “I was just at Alma’s house. I figured you’d be there. It’s Friday night, you know? What’s up with that?”

“She knew you were coming to my house?”

“Duh! That’s why they sent me with the enchiladas.”

“Did she tell you anything?”

“About what?” Marcos shrugged. “Wait a minute! Are you and Alma mad at each other?” He shook his head. “What are you two fighting about? Not me, I hope.”

Gaby narrowed her eyes at him. “Never happening.”

“So what, then?”

“Nothing. My dad said he’d bring me dinner tonight. That’s all.”

Another lie.

Marcos tugged on the strings of his hoodie and looked out toward the street. Her father’s car wasn’t there. He looked back at the house. Gaby hoped that he didn’t notice the ripped window screen. The last thing she needed was him opening his big mouth to everyone about the condition of her home. A month ago, the porch light wasn’t working. Marcos told Enrique. The next day, all of Enrique’s uncles showed up and turned her house into a day-long project. They fixed the light, unclogged the kitchen sink, chopped the tree branches that hovered dangerously over the porch and power lines, and even took out the trash. She was grateful, but her father came home and acted insulted. He had sulked and muttered, “I was going to get around to it.”

Marcos didn’t seem to notice her unease. “My mom said I should apologize to you for what I said the other day about that sick cat being kaput. I was just being a jerk. Big surprise.”

“You told your mom?” Gaby sat down next to him.

“I tell my mom everything.”

Gaby envied him. She used to tell her mom everything, too, but now she could fill a whole notebook with all the things she was keeping from her mom.

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