Free How Tía Lola Saved the Summer by Julia Álvarez Page B

prettier.” Tía Lola has a way of telling the truth that doesn’t hurt to hear it.
    “ Ay , Tía Lola!” Victoria throws her arms around her wonderful new friend. “I hope we do move to Vermont!”
    Tía Lola hugs the sweet girl back. “I hope so, too!” That would be the best miracle of all: if Linda and Víctor were to fall in love.

    “What’s with the swords?” Owen wants to know as they head to the back field. Miguel and Victoria have insisted on bringing along these Halloween swords. Owen is serving as Miguel’s crutch on the right, while Victoria is on the left. Tía Lola follows, carrying a small stool on which Miguel will rest his bad foot.
    “The swords are una tradición latina ,” Tía Lola says playfully. A Latin tradition? “Ay, sí, Owensito , ” she teases, calling him “little Owen,” when he towers above her. “You know how the valentine angel carries love arrows?” She must mean Cupid. “ Bueno , before a game or a practice, we Latinos carry harmless swords to remind us to play fair and make friends.”
    “Awesome,” he says, but suddenly the only three Latinos he has ever known are laughing. “What?” he asks, baffled.
    “I am pulling your toes,” Tía Lola explains. She often gets her English expressions mixed up.
    “You mean pulling his leg, Tía Lola,” Victoria offers when she manages to stop laughing.
    “It was only a little joke I play on Owensito,” Tía Lola explains, “so I only pulled his toes this time, but next time, he better watch out that I don’t cut off his head.”
    She brandishes her sword like she means business. Owen ducks, pretending to defend himself. In doing so, he lets go of Miguel’s right side, so that accidentally, Miguel steps on his sore foot. And what a surprise: the ankle is tender, but it doesn’t really hurt him anymore!

    By the time the British regiment has shot its first cannon, and the light infantry has marched across the green at Fort Ticonderoga, the team has been practicing for an hour and is ready for a break. Tía Lola and Victoria come down from the house with a tray of homemade cookies and two pitchers of lemonade.
    “Where is the coronel ?” Tía Lola asks, looking around. Colonel Charlebois usually shows up at the team’s practices.
    “Down with a cold,” Rudy sighs. It was a job convincing the old man to take a day off. “How’s our other wounded soldier?” Rudy asks, nodding at Miguel’s foot.
    “Super!” Miguel demonstrates, taking a few tentative steps. He is so ready to play ball.
    But Rudy isn’t sure that ankle is ready. “I hate to be theheavy here, Captain. But how about we give it one more day?”
    Miguel shoots Owen a desperate look. But as the assistant, Owen has to back up his coach. Owen relates how he himself messed up his pitching arm last year by playing too soon after an injury. You’d think he almost died or something; Victoria looks like she’s about to faint.
    “Owen’s right, Miguel,” Victoria pleads. “Please, just one more day, please.” She looks almost as worried about Miguel as she did about Owen.
    The truth is that it’s hard to resist a pretty girl acting like you’ll break her heart if you ignore her request. It helps that she sits down beside him on the bench, needing a lot of help with the rules and moves of baseball.
    One thing leads to another, and before long, Miguel is telling Victoria about his apprehensions for the weekend.
    “What exactly are you worried about?” She is such a good listener, letting him finish without interrupting, thinking about what he says before responding.
    “I was worried that I wouldn’t get to play at all. Now I guess I’m afraid we’ll lose. I also worry Papi might feel bad about your father and my mother.” He doesn’t want to sound like he is criticizing Víctor, whom he actually likes a lot, which is part of the problem. Feeling like he’s not being loyal to Papi.
    “But didn’t you say your father and Carmen are engaged to