Free Someone Like Summer by M. E. Kerr

everything about you, even if it involves going to church.”
    â€œI have the God you don’t believe in to thank for getting you to my church,” said Esteban, smiling, touching me playfully under the chin.
    â€œWhat is this preacher’s name?”
    â€œAntolin. He goes by one name only.”
    â€œLike Larkin.”
    He frowned and shook his head. “Are you serious about this? Antolin is not in the same sentence with Larkin.”
    â€œI’m sorry, Esteban. I shouldn’t kid around.”
    â€œNo, you should not.”
    â€œI am really sorry.” I was. Why couldn’t I just accept the fact that Esteban was religious? I wondered if it threatened me in some way, if it divided us.
    Esteban said, “Be careful, cariña . Antolin may cast a spell on you. They say he is very, very dynamite.”
    â€œWould you like it if I was religious?”
    â€œWhat is anything without God?” Esteban said.
    â€œI can’t believe in a God. I wish I could, but I’m an atheist.”
    â€œNo one is an atheist, Anna. That means you declare flatly there is no God. You mean to say that you are an agnostic. That means you just don’t know.”
    â€œI’m with the ones who declare flatly,” I said. “Who taught you the difference between the two?”
    â€œI learned most of my English in school, at home. But here I took ESL at the high school on Tuesday nights.”
    â€œWhy, Esteban?”
    â€œWhy did I take more? The better you speak, the easier it becomes to get good jobs. A man who was in our house is now boss of a construction crew. He can be boss of all the ones whowork with him because he is able to speak for them. They don’t understand what the gringos say they want done.”
    â€œMay I really go with you tonight? Is it okay?”
    Esteban sighed, shrugged. “All right! I wanted to give you a pañuelo , anyway. Now you will need it to go with me.”
    â€œA bandanna like the one you wore when you first came to my house?”
    â€œYes, I got you one not even knowing you were coming to the Casa. I just wanted you to have one.”
    â€œAnother present, E. E.?” I’d never given him a gift, because I was afraid he’d feel he had to reciprocate. “Thank you, Esteban, but I hope you’re not spending all your money on me.”
    â€œOnly what little is mine to spend. I send the most to my family, but I like to give things to you. Then you always have something I picked out. Tonight, wear the pañuelo like a scarf, a belt. Tie it on your wrist or ankle. Yellow, blue, red: the colors of our Colombian flag. We all wear our colors, but in church we are una gente . One people.”
    â€œWhy don’t I wear the American flag?”
    â€œBecause at the Casa we wear the colors of our homelands, and you are my guest. You will see plenty of red, white, and blue. It will be the three colors you will see the most of, but in our flags. Virgil would be a big exception, because he would wear green, white, and red. For Mexico.”
    Since we weren’t busy in the library, I told Miss Chidister I was taking a small break. I knew she was wise to what was going on with Esteban and me. When I’d asked her if she would suggest Spanish classes to the programmer, she said she was sure I could wait until fall when the high school taught SSL evenings. “He’s not going anywhere, is he?” she said.
    â€œWho are you talking about?” I tried to play dumb, but she winked at me and shook her head, as though she was in on our secret.
    Esteban and I went out the back door and sat on the bench where the employees who still smoked sat. Esteban was in bib overalls, the high kind he didn’t wear a shirt under, just his skin and his religious medal. I’d noticed MissChidister giving him a look. We didn’t have a dress code in the library. Customers came in shorts all the time. There was just