Read Online Jack In The Green by Charles De Lint - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Charles De Lint
Tags: Fantasy
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in her direction.
"Hardly," Maria says. "I'm just me."
"Forgive me," Espinoza says. "I meant you no harm. Do not haunt me."
"I'm not haunting you."
Maria holds her hands up in front of herself and rubs them against each other.
"I'm just not dead anymore," she tells Espinoza.
"But that…that is impossible."
Maria smiles. "You'd think."
Espinoza only met the dead girl once when she was still alive, but that one meeting was enough for her to see the change in the girl now. Maria carries herself with an air of serenity and grace. In the old woman's eyes, she seems to glow from within.
Espinoza crosses herself again.
"You have become a saint," she says.
Maria shakes her head. "I think that's pretty unlikely. I'd need another couple of miracles under my belt first, and even then I don't think the church just hands sainthood to a barrio girl like me."
She crosses the dusty yard and comes up on Espinoza's stoop. She reaches out her hands. When Espinoza takes them she feels a tingle in her fingers that spreads through her whole body.
"You should sit," Maria says. "Rest a bit."
With the girl's help, Espinoza lowers herself back into her lawn chair.
"What will you do," Espinoza asks, "now that you have returned? Will you seek revenge on the bandas for killing you?"
Maria lets go of the old woman's hands.
"I don't know," she says. "Right now I just want to find my friends."
"They will be in…in the cemetery."
Maria nods. "I know."
Espinoza reaches for her, but Maria has already stepped back.
"Revenge is not the answer," she tells the girl. "Leave their judgment to God."
"Do you really think God pays any attention to people like you and me?"
"Of course I do."
Maria shakes her head. "I think maybe he expects us to help ourselves."
"Do not be swayed by dark desires, child. God has a plan for each one of us."
Maria smiles. "So who's to say whatever I do isn't his plan for me? Vaya con Dios, señora ."
Espinoza watches the girl walk across her lawn and down the street. She watches until she can't see her anymore, then she pushes herself up from her chair. She goes to her neighbour's house to tell her what she has seen.
Before the sun sets that evening, the whole barrio knows of the Miracle of Calle Adelanto.
By midnight, a small shrine stands on the place where Maria died and then returned again. There are flowers and votive candles on the ground surrounding a white cross. Small milagros and folded scraps of paper holding prayers litter the ground.
Espinoza hides inside her house. Everyone wants to talk to her about her experience with the girl returned from the dead. Neighbours and strangers. Reporters. It's too much for the old woman and she wishes she'd never talked to anyone about it in the first place.
Maria has every intention of going straight to San Miguel Cemetery, but as she continues down Calle Adelanto toward Mission Street she passes by Luna Diablo. She has never been inside. No one who values their own skin does since the Devil's Moon is one of the main hangouts of the 66 Bandas.
She stops in front of the bar without knowing why.
Except that's not true.
She knows what she's thinking of doing, but it's so loco —so like nothing she'd ever do—that she could never explain it if anyone were to ask. But dying and coming back changes something in you. Or at least it has changed her.
She hasn't become fearless. Knowing that something tangible lies beyond death has only made the idea of living sweeter. She understands that the gift of the world and her place in it is precious.
But for the bandas, life is a cheap commodity—a coin easily spent. Once that made her afraid. Now it makes her angry.
She knows Jack and Luz and the others are mourning her in the cemetery. Pablo, her family, Connie and Veronica and her other friends will be mourning her, too. She wants nothing more than to be with them. To reassure them that she has returned.
Instead, she enters the bar.
It's noisy—even at this time
"Hardly," Maria says. "I'm just me."
"Forgive me," Espinoza says. "I meant you no harm. Do not haunt me."
"I'm not haunting you."
Maria holds her hands up in front of herself and rubs them against each other.
"I'm just not dead anymore," she tells Espinoza.
"But that…that is impossible."
Maria smiles. "You'd think."
Espinoza only met the dead girl once when she was still alive, but that one meeting was enough for her to see the change in the girl now. Maria carries herself with an air of serenity and grace. In the old woman's eyes, she seems to glow from within.
Espinoza crosses herself again.
"You have become a saint," she says.
Maria shakes her head. "I think that's pretty unlikely. I'd need another couple of miracles under my belt first, and even then I don't think the church just hands sainthood to a barrio girl like me."
She crosses the dusty yard and comes up on Espinoza's stoop. She reaches out her hands. When Espinoza takes them she feels a tingle in her fingers that spreads through her whole body.
"You should sit," Maria says. "Rest a bit."
With the girl's help, Espinoza lowers herself back into her lawn chair.
"What will you do," Espinoza asks, "now that you have returned? Will you seek revenge on the bandas for killing you?"
Maria lets go of the old woman's hands.
"I don't know," she says. "Right now I just want to find my friends."
"They will be in…in the cemetery."
Maria nods. "I know."
Espinoza reaches for her, but Maria has already stepped back.
"Revenge is not the answer," she tells the girl. "Leave their judgment to God."
"Do you really think God pays any attention to people like you and me?"
"Of course I do."
Maria shakes her head. "I think maybe he expects us to help ourselves."
"Do not be swayed by dark desires, child. God has a plan for each one of us."
Maria smiles. "So who's to say whatever I do isn't his plan for me? Vaya con Dios, señora ."
Espinoza watches the girl walk across her lawn and down the street. She watches until she can't see her anymore, then she pushes herself up from her chair. She goes to her neighbour's house to tell her what she has seen.
Before the sun sets that evening, the whole barrio knows of the Miracle of Calle Adelanto.
By midnight, a small shrine stands on the place where Maria died and then returned again. There are flowers and votive candles on the ground surrounding a white cross. Small milagros and folded scraps of paper holding prayers litter the ground.
Espinoza hides inside her house. Everyone wants to talk to her about her experience with the girl returned from the dead. Neighbours and strangers. Reporters. It's too much for the old woman and she wishes she'd never talked to anyone about it in the first place.
Maria has every intention of going straight to San Miguel Cemetery, but as she continues down Calle Adelanto toward Mission Street she passes by Luna Diablo. She has never been inside. No one who values their own skin does since the Devil's Moon is one of the main hangouts of the 66 Bandas.
She stops in front of the bar without knowing why.
Except that's not true.
She knows what she's thinking of doing, but it's so loco —so like nothing she'd ever do—that she could never explain it if anyone were to ask. But dying and coming back changes something in you. Or at least it has changed her.
She hasn't become fearless. Knowing that something tangible lies beyond death has only made the idea of living sweeter. She understands that the gift of the world and her place in it is precious.
But for the bandas, life is a cheap commodity—a coin easily spent. Once that made her afraid. Now it makes her angry.
She knows Jack and Luz and the others are mourning her in the cemetery. Pablo, her family, Connie and Veronica and her other friends will be mourning her, too. She wants nothing more than to be with them. To reassure them that she has returned.
Instead, she enters the bar.
It's noisy—even at this time
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