The Midnight Zoo by Sonya Hartnett

Author:Sonya Hartnett [Hartnett, Sonya]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780763656324
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Published: 2010-11-09T13:00:00+00:00

What Andrej remembered perfectly was the scarlet kite. Someone had brought it to the celebration and all afternoon it zipped and soared above the trees, although down in the clearing there was almost no breeze and the women had to flap their aprons to encourage the cooking flames to bite. Andrej played soccer with the other boys, most of whom were his cousins or in some other way related. The weather was pleasantly warm that day and the boys played without shirts, and in the rough-and-tumble their olive-skinned chests became scuffed with grass and dirt. Whenever Andrej paused to catch his breath, he looked up in search of the kite. Its canopy was cardinal-red, its tail a string of white feathers. He remembered seeing his cousin Mirabela running in circles with the kite jolting and swooping above her and a gaggle of the younger children dashing along behind her, begging to hold on to the string. Tomas was not among them, nor was he playing soccer. He could be shy with people he didn’t know well, and whenever there was a gathering he preferred to stay close to his mother.

Andrej wished Uncle Marin and some of the other men would join the game. It was always more fun when the grown-ups played too. They kicked the ball cleverly, and with such focused strength; when they scored a goal, they turned cartwheels and ran around whooping. They didn’t take the match seriously, as some of the boys did. That afternoon, however, the men stood talking around the horses, subdued and shadow-eyed.

It was the Feast Day of Black Sarah. She was the Gypsies’ patron saint. Being their patron saint meant Sarah listened more closely to Rom prayers than to those of anybody else. Praying directly to her increased the chances of a prayer coming true. That day Andrej was praying for a soccer ball of his own. He’d been making necklaces out of painted beads and trying to sell them in towns that they passed, but lately it seemed nobody had need of a necklace, nor patience for the Gypsy boy peddling them. He’d never get a soccer ball without the aid of prayer.

Traditionally, the celebrations in honor of Saint Sarah were noisy affairs. After dipping the saint’s black-faced statue in water in homage to Sarah’s miraculous sea journey, then offering up heartfelt thanks for the kindnesses she’d done them over the past year — a lame colt made sound, a woman delivered of twins, an ugly grandson finally married — the clan would celebrate. Many of its members hadn’t seen one another since the previous Feast Day. There was news to share about births and deaths, gossip to spread about robbery and kisses, hair-raising adventures from the road to act out hilariously. Handiworks were compared, babies were displayed, coins were tossed, dice rolled. Horses were paraded before critical eyes, guitar and violin strings were tuned. Wine barrels were opened, and chickens were slaughtered to roast on spits alongside leaping lambs. The clearing would smell deliciously, and everyone would be happy.

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.