Free Half the Day Is Night by Maureen F. McHugh Page B

kid. Or when he was in Blacksburg, and he and Thieu used to run around and ignore his younger cousin. Maybe he could fly to Blacksburg when he left Caribe, see his aunt and uncle and run around a bit with Thieu. Thieu was married and had two, or maybe three children. He would like to see his cousin’s children.
    It might be awkward. He would write his aunt and ask for Thieu’s address.
    â€œTo call the United States,” he asked Tim, “is it so expensive?”
    â€œI don’t know, I’ve never called the U.S. Why would you call the U.S.?”
    â€œI have family there,” David said. “I thought I would like to go see them.”
    â€œIt probably isn’t that expensive. Have you talked to Mayla about time off?”
    â€œNo,” David said. He didn’t think he should say to Tim that he was leaving, he didn’t think Mayla wanted Tim to know. Then again, Tim might be a little easier to live with if he thought David was leaving.
    Silence might be best.
    He did not like secrets. “I do not know if I will take the job,” he said. “You know, this is a probationary period. Maybe at the end I will leave.”
    Tim frowned. “What’s wrong with the job?”
    â€œI am not suited, I think,” David said.
    â€œIt’s a good job,” Tim said. Which was beside the point.
    They got on the escalator. The escalators were awful, dirty and graffitied and this one smelled of smoke on top of a strong odor of urine. At the top of the escalator was a shed that sold sausages. Coals glowed in the bottom of the grill. David thought that fires were illegal in Caribe because they ate up oxygen and put a further burden on the air purification systems.
    A whole family seemed to live in the shed: father, mother, a girl about six or seven, and a naked, potbellied little boy no more than three. The little boy had a dirty cord tied around his ankle to keep him from wandering. Flat mestizo faces watched people get off the escalator. Nobody seemed to buy. The little boy alone seemed unconcerned, he stood on a pink blanket gone gray with grime and cooed and crowed to himself.
    This country could not take care of its people, there wouldn’t be a société for animals. Maybe not even veterinarians. What to do with Meph? He could not just abandon him, it would be cruel, but if there was no vet.… Could he kill the kitten himself?
    There would have to be a vet. Some people, like Mayla, they would have a pet, wouldn’t they?
    â€œIs it Mayla?” Tim asked.
    â€œWhat,” David said.
    â€œWhy don’t you like the job?”
    â€œI don’t like this country,” David said. A half-truth.
    Tim seemed to relax. “Yeah,” he said. “I can see that. The place is a mess, isn’t it. But Mayla is all right. Sometimes she doesn’t know what she wants, you know.”
    David didn’t know, but he nodded.
    â€œSometimes, she gets me so mad I don’t know what to do with her. She changes her mind. One minute she likes you, the next minute she doesn’t. I think it’s because part of her is North American, like her family, and part of her is Caribbean, and the two sides are at bloody war half the time.”
    â€œWhy do you stay?” David asked. The question he had been wanting to ask.
    â€œI don’t know,” Tim said. “I went to Belize and was there for awhile, and then she asked me to come back and she offered me this goddamn job. And then she decided she was mad at me and she wanted to get rid of me. I figure she’ll change her mind again.”
    David did not think so but he didn’t see any need to voice an opinion.
    â€œBesides,” Tim said suddenly, “Sometime in your life you gotta stick to something, you know?”
    A strange statement that left as many questions as it answered. How had he known Mayla before he went to Belize? Why had she asked him to come back?
    If David stayed,