I Am Not Alone by Francisco X. Stork

Author:Francisco X. Stork [X. Stork, Francisco]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2023-07-02T00:00:00+00:00

She took her laptop out of her backpack as soon as she entered her apartment. During the ride home with her father she kept thinking about what Rabbi Sacks had said: What we know for sure is that he needs help. That’s what she wanted to do. Help Alberto find out if he was innocent by locating Jimbo, which meant finding the church where Jimbo’s mother worked. Grace wasn’t sure how Jimbo could help Alberto since, according to Alberto, they were already gone when Mrs. Macpherson was killed. But Alberto thought it was good place to start and she wanted to honor that.

In her room, sitting at her desk, she found twenty-one churches in Brownsville. She wrote down their phone numbers and started calling them on her cell phone. When someone answered, she asked if she could talk to Mrs. Jasmine. On the twentieth call, a man who sounded as if he had no teeth, said, “No asmin, asmeen.”

“Mrs. Jasmeen? Is she there?” Grace asked, her heartbeat quickening.

“Ee only comes on aturdays now. Ey cut er hours.”

“On Saturdays?”

“Es!”

“Do you have her address, by any chance? I was thinking of hiring her.”

“Old on.”

Please. Please. Have her address, Grace said to herself. She laughed at the thought that she quite possibly had just prayed.

“No aress. Come ere on aturday. See er. Ate o welve.”

Click.

Grace wrote down the name and address of the church, then went on Google Maps. Our Lady of the Presentation was a forty-five-minute walk from Joseph’s house. Grace was almost certain that the old man’s last words were eight to twelve. She tapped Joseph’s number.

“It’s me,” she said when Ernestina answered. “How’s Alberto?”

“He’s still sleeping. And as soon as he wakes up, he’s going to take a much-needed bath.”

Grace giggled. “Do you have pen and paper? I have an address for Alberto.”

“Yep, right here.”

Grace gave Ernestina the name of the church and the address. “Tell him Mrs. Jasmine is only there on Saturday from eight to twelve.” She thought for a moment and then said, “Tell him I’ll be there around eight.”

“Okay. I’ll tell him. And Grace?”

“Yes?”

“You did good today.”

Grace stared at her phone after Ernestina hung up. She had done good? Then why did she feel as if she had just unloaded a problem into someone else’s lap?

I did what I could. I took him to a safe place. I found the church where his friend’s mother works. That’s enough, isn’t it? What more can I do? I can’t help him anymore. I shouldn’t have told Ernestina that I’ll be at the church. Why did I do that?

And the kiss? And the tenderness and hunger I feel?

Grace had no answers to her own questions.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.