Free Bella by Lisa Samson

have any cash on me.”
    And how much was something like that worth? To Nina, quite a bit. The man being blind surely added on twenty bucks or so, didn’t it?
    He rested his hands on his knees. “Okay.” He nodded. “Today’s a beautiful day, right?”
    â€œI guess . . .”
    â€œDescribe it to me!” He smiled, nodding with an almost adolescent expectation.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œDescribe it to me and this piece of art is yours.” He held out the frog again.
    José nodded at her, his face open and almost as expectant as the blind man’s.
    â€œOkay. Uh . . .” She glanced over her shoulder at a small park. “There are some yellow flowers blooming on a bu—”
    â€œForsythia!” He nodded.
    In that instant, Nina knew this man wasn’t born blind.
    â€œYeah. And some purple ones too —”
    â€œHyacinth!” He inhaled through his nose. “Mmm.”
    His face almost split in two at the joy of remembering those colors. Easter colors. She was feeding him, feeding his soul, like giving a man in the desert a drink of water.
    â€œYou really like flowers, huh?”
    â€œOh yeah.”
    She smiled at José.
    â€œWhat’s going on across the street?” the blind man asked.
    She leaned forward, hands on her knees. “Well, it’s just an ordinary day in New York City. People rushing back and forth. Everyone’s got somewhere to go, somewhere to be. Nobody really cares about nothing. It’s like a huge living clock. It never stops.”
    And why was she speaking so loudly? She caught herself and had to laugh inwardly. The man wasn’t deaf !
    His smile became wistful. “Boy, I wish I could see that.”
    Oh yes, you do , she thought. I wish I could too .
    He handed her the frog. “Thank you.”
    She took it tenderly, wondering how she was going to keep something so fragile from being crushed. Well, she’d introduce him to Bubbles and maybe they’d have themselves a good old time there in her backpack.
    â€œAnd you!” The blind man pointed to José. “You keep it real. I got my eye on you.”
    They laughed.
    â€œThank you,” said Nina.
    â€œThank you,” José said too.
    As they walked on, Nina pointed to the sign resting beside the blind man, words scrawled in red magic marker, a little American flag sticker stuck to the cardboard:
    GOD CLOSED MY EYES. NOW I CAN SEE.
    â€œWhat do you think of that?” she asked José as they rounded the corner. “Did God do that to that man? Do you think he was being punished for something?”
    José fl inched. “I don’t believe that of God.” End of story, judging by the tone of his voice.
    â€œI can’t get mad at God for my being pregnant.”
    â€œNo. Babies are like flowers.”
    Nina shut down that train of thought; she was actually thinking that she’d gotten herself into the mess. She wasn’t talking about babies.
    And all for Pieter. What was she thinking? He couldn’t even stand up to Manny and tell him the truth when her job was on the line. It made her sick to think she’d slept with him.
    She pointed to a street bazaar, tents set up, card tables all selling colorful items: purses, scarves, tablecloths, jewelry, batik and tie-dyed skirts and shirts, colorful sandals. And of course, watches. What street bazaar would be complete without fake Rolexes and, well, whatever other watch was popular these days? “Let’s go over to the sidewalk vendors. I like that kind of hippie stuff.”
    â€œAll right.”
    José followed her into a tent filled with skirts and blouses, dresses and scarves. Nina plucked a scarf from a rack, a soft square of white with sea-blue
designs.
    She walked up to the vendor. “Do you have a mirror?”
    The Asian lady held one up while Nina tied the scarf around her head, her ponytail peeking out of the back. “Thank