Free When the Elephants Dance by Tess Uriza Holthe Page B

I knew an older woman, one of the housekeepers, and if I came at the right time, she would bring leftovers for me and for Father. I was lucky that night. Aling Patricia was sweeping near the back door when I arrived.
    “Oh, Carlito. Your aunt did not give you a second helping again?” She clucked her tongue. “Tsk, tsk. That woman. Oh, come. The missus did not finish her pie, and I think there are plenty of empanadas to bring home to your father.”
    “Thank you, Aling Pat.” I smiled.
    “You wait here,” she instructed.
    I was not waiting more than two minutes when a side door opened and I saw him. I saw Esmeralda’s lover, Tearso. He strolled out with a cigar in his mouth and a woman on his arm. They were followed by two other people, and they chatted as they strolled away from the garden. The woman turned quickly so that her back was to me. I did not have time to stare at her face, but I knew it was not Esmeralda. For one thing, the woman’s hands were pale and she was wider around the hips, and when she turned sideways, her chest was flat like my straw mat.
    “Carl, Carlito, Carlos,” Aling Pat called. She came and nudged me with her shoulder. Her hands were full, with fruits and two baskets of steaming food. “Oh, I will need the baskets back tomorrow. I asked the missus, and she said shewas going to throw the food away. Here, there is lechón and gingered beef in there. Ha?” She grinned. “You will have a feast tonight.”
    “Thank you, Aling Pat.” I smiled. “Who are those people?”
    “Ha, sino?”
She squinted. “Well, you know Tearso Batongbukol, and that is his lady friend, Catalina Marquez. They are to be engaged soon. Then there is Cory Carvajal and Dennis Oberes; you have seen them before, have you not? They are friends of the San Lupe children.
Hoy
. Hurry home. Your food will spoil.”
    I thanked her and pretended to walk toward home. As soon as she went back into the house, I went in pursuit of Tearso’s group. I was standing in the garden, searching for which path they took, when they walked up behind me, too fast for me to hide. To my horror, the woman was now entangled with Tearso. Her arms were wrapped around his neck like a serpent, and Tearso was not struggling. I was in such a state of shock that I could not move out of the way, and they bumped into me. Tearso looked down with a frown, and then I saw the recognition in his eyes. He knew my family well from all his visits to Esmeralda’s house. Whenever my father sat on the front porch, Tearso would hold up a hand in greeting. I could see he wanted to say something to me, but I turned, stumbling, and hurried home. All the way home I kept wondering how I was going to tell Esmeralda that her lover had betrayed her.
    I arrived home and hurried to my room. Father was fast asleep. I had gained enough confidence to knock on Esmeralda’s door. But I had forgotten about her customers. As I glanced through my window into hers, I saw that I would have to wait. Esmeralda’s first one of the evening was already seated at the table. A rich woman, I could tell by her clothes and her simple strand of pearls, which she looped nervously around her long fingers.
    I sat down and opened the basket of hot food. I would make Father a plate just as soon as I spoke to Esmeralda. The tenderness of the beef, with the sweetness of the onions, thin slices of ginger, and green peppers, exploded in my mouth. I shivered at all the flavors assaulting me.
    Her patron’s voice was timid, embarrassed. “I need a cure, a cure for happiness. I have too much of it. It scares me.”
    “But people search all their lives for this. What has caused you to feel you are undeserving of it?” Esmeralda’s voice was tender. She had a way of speaking, coaxing the hurt out of someone’s heart.
    “Undeserving?” The woman’s voice faltered, shaking the hard edges from it. “I had never thought of it that way. Undeserving. I have lived all my life with things given to