Without Borders by Amanda Heger

Author:Amanda Heger [Heger, Amanda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Diversion Books
Published: 2016-05-21T04:00:00+00:00

Day Fourteen

Felipe led them down the four steps of the maternity home into the bright morning sun. Annie looked at the plywood shacks with their rusty metal roofs and tried to picture a miniature Marisol running around outside, bossing everyone in sight. In her imagination, a tiny Felipe released a bucket of worms into the wild.

They reached a blue, two-story house. Sharp spears at the top of the iron fence glinted at eye-level. Inside the gate, Felipe’s aunt waited for them in a frayed plastic lawn chair.

“Buenas, buenas.” She eased out of her chair and opened the gate, pulling Marisol into an embrace and kissing her cheek. She shook Phillip’s hand, then Annie’s, and as she did, her cedar scent hit Annie’s nose.

She looked at Felipe before she turned to Annie. “Carlos dijo—”

“Sí.” Felipe took Annie’s elbow and steered her to the backyard.

“What did she say? I wasn’t—” Her face crinkled as she tried to remember his aunt’s words.

“She wanted to know your name.” He smiled. “Here is the laundry sink.”

“But she already knows my name, right? What was the thing about Carlos? I’m understanding more things now, but—”

He ducked his chin and kissed her, cutting off her words and her air supply. His mouth was soft and teasing against her lips, and when he pulled away she was left gasping for more of him. He handed her a crusty jar of white powder and planted a feathered kiss on her lips. “Here is the soap. I have to go be interrogated by my tía now.”

Annie dumped her clothes into the boxy laundry sink and tossed a scoop of detergent inside. She filled the basin with tepid water to her elbows, and a thin film skimmed the surface. She dunked her things again and again, swishing and swirling them through the water in her best impression of a washing machine. Within seconds, the water turned a vile shade of gray.

As she worked, a group of children gathered in clumps of two or three at the iron fence until they made up a single knot of at least ten kids, the oldest as tall as Annie and the youngest riding on the hip of another. She recognized a few of the faces from the last clinic and waved at them. Dirty water dripped from her fingertips.

“You have a fan club.” Felipe’s voice floated over her shoulder.

“Annie-watch. Like the zoo,” she said. “Now with more gingers.”

He cocked his head.

“Never mind.”

“Have you ever washed your clothes this way?”

“By hand?” she asked, self-consciousness creeping up her spine.

“Sí.” Felipe stepped in beside her, watching her amateur, improvised technique. “You must scrub. Here.” He nudged her over with his hip and a smile. His body echoed against hers as she stood next to him, fingers wrinkled and dripping, sharing the square sink. He dunked his hands into the water and came up with the old, gray sorority tee Annie had worn the day before. He rubbed the sides of the shirt together, hard and brisk. His face crinkled with the effort, but he sang under his breath in time with the movement.

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