Free This Side of Providence by Rachel M. Harper Page A

it dinnertime?” She eats her half in one bite.
    â€œI can go get them,” I say, standing to leave.
    â€œWait,” she says, putting her hand on my shoulder. It’s the first time she’s ever touched me. “I want to talk to you. Alone.”
    I sit down. My heart pounds loud in my chest.
    â€œYour mom, she’s not coming back right away. You know that, right?”
    I nod. I keep hearing the last thing Mami said to me, about the presents being with the birds, but I still can’t figure out what it means. I think about telling Lucho but she’s got enough to worry about.
    â€œShe could be gone for a few months, maybe even longer.”
    I look at the chunk of banana in my hand. It suddenly doesn’t seem ripe enough to eat.
    â€œThat’s a long time to be without your mother.” Lucho throws the banana peel into a garbage can with no liner. “Are you okay with that?”
    I shrug. “I guess I have to be.”
    â€œIt’s not going to be easy. For you or your sisters.”
    â€œBut you’re here,” I say to her.
    She looks at me.
    â€œYou’re here, right?”
    â€œSure, kid, I’m here. But I’m nobody’s mother, you know what I mean?”
    â€œYeah, sure. Okay.”
    â€œAnd if your sisters ask any questions, you tell the truth, okay? Kids get fucked up when you lie to them.” She gets a beer and opens it with a bottle opener that’s screwed into the countertop. With her back to me I speak again.
    â€œHey Lucho…you must like my mom a lot, to do this for her.”
    She shakes her head and tries to hide a smile. She has a gold cap on her front tooth that makes her look like a gangster. “I don’t like your mother, Cristo. Like is for puppies andice cream sandwiches.” She squeezes the neck on her bottle of beer. “I love your mother. I’d do anything for her. I’m not her husband and I’m not her boyfriend, but I’ll take care of her better than any man ever has. No prison’s going to change that.”
    Then she walks into the bedroom, using her foot to shut the door behind her.

    For dinner I make my sisters waffles with peanut butter and honey and fried eggs. Usually Mami won’t let me make breakfast for dinner, but Lucho doesn’t care what we eat, so long as we clean up right away so the roaches don’t come out.
    Lucho sleeps through dinner but I wake her up later when the landlord comes by looking for the rent. I’ve seen him before, walking around the neighborhood by himself, headphones blaring, but up close he looks like even more of a freak. They say he’s an albino, so even though he’s black his skin is completely white, and he has these bright blue eyes that look like they run on electricity. It’s hard to look at him for long, but once you get past his eyes, it’s not too bad. His head is shaved smooth like a cue ball and he has a goatee, perfectly white like it was painted on his face with snow. People say it’s the only hair he has on his whole body.
    It’s eighty-five degrees out but he’s wearing a hooded sweatshirt and cargo pants. Fuck if I know what his real name is but everybody calls him Snowman. I used to think it was mean but now it just makes sense.
    Lucho sends us out to play since the days are getting longer and it’s still pretty light outside. Luz takes Trini to the sandbox in front of our neighbor’s house, but I hang back on the porch, trying to hear their conversation. I can’t hear much because Lucho’s not talking and this Snowman guy whispers, but I do hear him ask about Mami. Lucho offers him a beer but he says he don’t drink. When she offers him a chair he leans against it instead of sitting down. He says that somebody owes him money and I hear the word evict several times. Finally Lucho leaves the room, and when she comes back she hands him astack of money. He folds it into an