Free One Grave Less by Beverly Connor Page B

wish those men had one of those phones Julio has,” Rosetta said.
    “Our problems would be over,” agreed Maria. “Perhaps we will acquire one along the way.”
    She glanced at Rosetta. She sat on the seat with her legs straight out, the backpack between her feet. She was wearing fairly new jeans with the cuffs stuffed in equally new lace-up boots that were slightly large for her.
    “Nice clothes,” said Maria.
    “I stole them from Jopito. He’s mean to me. But he has nice clothes.” She paused for several moments. “I didn’t steal them to get even. I stole them because I needed them.”
    “I’ll get you home. I’ll get us both home.”
    “That was pretty good back there—the way you used the stick on those guys,” said Rosetta. “How’d you learn to do that?”
    “I’m a Wii champion in sword fighting,” said Maria.
    Rosetta looked over at her. “What’s that?”
    “It’s a game. You can move around pretending you are sword fighting, or playing golf, or whatever, and your movements show up in your character on a television screen. Your mother will have to get you one.”
    Maria glanced at Rosetta and saw the quiver of a smile, as if she dared entertain the thought that they would really get home.
    Maria didn’t say anything for a long while, letting Rosetta bask in the feeling of hope. Daylight was coming. She could see glimmers of light occasionally through the branches, but not a lot of it would reach through the canopy.
    “How long before they wake up—Julio and the others back at the village?” asked Maria. She didn’t quite believe that Rosetta drugged the lot of them and she was worried they would be followed. She couldn’t imagine how a little kid could manage something like that.
    “I’m not sure. I gave them a mixture of herbs I got from Uruma when I stayed with her tribe. They’ll sleep for a long time, I think. If they have worms, it will get rid of them too.”
    Maria laughed out loud and it made her throat hurt.
    “How did you get them to take the drug?” she whispered.
    “I cook the food a lot of the time. I put it in the food. It was easy,” she said. “I work hard and don’t make many mistakes. The families I worked for put me in charge of cooking and storing supplies. That gives me power.”
    Maria raised an eyebrow. Rosetta was a very practical kid.
    “Your English is very good,” she whispered.
    “Mama said I am gifted in languages. I know several languages here. I can speak for us and you can pretend you can’t say anything. That’ll be easy.”
    They rode in silence for a while. Maria concentrated on the road. Sometimes it would disappear completely and she would have to look at the compass to figure out the direction to go. Rosetta watched her closely.
    “Can you find the way?” she asked after the third stop and consultation with the compass.
    “Of course. I just look at the map and the direction we need to be going and make sure we are on track with the compass,” she said. “Good thing they had one in the glove compartment. I thought I would have to use the stars, and that meant I would have to climb one of those kapok trees.”
    “I’m lucky I found you,” the little girl said. “I kept looking for someone who could help me. Everywhere I worked, I would store some supplies together so that if I had to leave suddenly, it wouldn’t take me long to pack. I was afraid to have a stash somewhere. If they found it, they wouldn’t trust me no more.”
    “Is that what you did tonight? Collect your supplies from the people you worked for?” asked Maria.
    Rosetta nodded. “I was about to think I would never find anybody who could help me. Then they brought you and said you were a forensic anthropologist from Georgia. I thought maybe you might be my mama. You weren’t, but you could help me. Mama talked about Georgia. I thought maybe you knew her.”
    “We met a few times at conferences,” said Maria. “I don’t know her well.” But everyone knew