A Greater Love by Rachel Ann Nunes Page B

key.”
    Miguel said nothing, but from the way Sara stared at him, he knew she sensed something was wrong. He lit the lantern.
    “Miguel, tell me!” Her eyes filled with tears. “She left us, didn’t she! She left us all alone ’cause she don’t love us!” Sara burst into tears, hiding her face in her hands.
    “It’s okay,” he murmured, patting her back.
    She clung to him. “No, it ain’t,” she sobbed. “I musta been a bad girl yesterday. She don’t want me around.”
    Miguel hadn’t foreseen this reaction. He’d thought if she believed Octávia had left them, it would be easier for her. “She ain’t gone and left us,” he muttered against her hair. “She just went on one of her vacations like she sometimes does, or to visit someone. See, she left all her stuff. She’s gotta come back for that.” He pointed at the warped shelf. Octávia occasionally left for a few nights, and though she usually told them she was going, she never said where.
    Sara sniffed, and tears still rolled down her cheeks, but now her distress turned to anger. “Well, ain’t that just like her. Goin’ off and not tellin’ me.” She glared at Miguel. “You shoulda told me.”
    He pretended innocense. “I didn’t know for sure. She only mentioned somethin’ last night, not like she was really gonna do it. She musta decided to go after we left today.” He hoped the lie worked.
    Sara wiped at her cheeks briefly before digging in the bag for the salmon, the crisis apparently concluded in her mind. “We gonna make a fire?”
    As they cooked their meal, it started to rain as though the sky had simply opened up and dumped huge buckets of water down on the earth. Currents gushed through the leaky roof and into the hole they had cut in the corner for the smoke to escape. The fire sizzled with the drops of water that reached it, but didn’t seem in immediate danger of going out. Miguel grabbed their blankets and put them in the corner where Octávia had slept. Her bed took up the only part of the shack that was completely leak-free.
    They sat together, warm in their blankets despite the cold. Miguel passed some of the cooked fish to Sara. “I’m glad Octávia’s not here tonight,” she whispered.
    “Yeah it’s fun to be here with just you and me.”
    She looked up at him, eyes reflecting the light from the lantern. “You’re never gonna leave me, right?”
    “Course not, Sara. I’m your brother. I’m gonna look out for you, forever. I want to.”
    She licked her fingers clean of the juice from the fish, and sighed contentedly. “I know, Miguel.”
    A week passed in a blissful haze. Miguel often couldn’t believe how easy and good life was. They begged by day, careful to avoid policemen or do-gooders, and ate as much as they wanted. In the gypsy square, Miguel bought a sweater, a bright blue one, for Sara and managed to steal another for himself. He began to think about buying a larger pair of shoes.
    “She’s been gone a long time,” Sara said one night. They were cooking a small chicken over the fire and drinking milk from a carton. “A week, I think. She ain’t never been gone this long.”
    Miguel froze, then forced himself to relax. “We do okay without her.” He’d gone out of his way to let the neighbors think Octávia was still around and had cautioned Sara not to mention her absence. So far it had seemed to work.
    Sara turned troubled eyes toward him. “People keep askin’ ’bout her. I told ’em she was sick, like ya said. And that once she went to visit a friend.” She frowned. “When people talk ’bout the lady that died, I worry somethin’ might happen to Octávia. I wish she’d come back.”
    “I don’t miss her much. And I’m takin’ care of ya, ain’t I?”
    “Who’s takin’ care of her?”
    “Octávia can take care of herself.” It concerned Miguel that Sara missed the old lady, but what bothered him more was that he hardly ever thought about Octávia. Life went on well