I had to pretend things hadn’t changed between us in the last twenty-four hours when he’d held my hand for the first time. I had to treat him like I always had, like a good childhood friend, even though we weren’t kids anymore. He’d turned fifteen last month and I was thirteen.
I shivered, remembering the feel of his hand tightening against mine as he saved me from falling from the bridge yesterday. There had been a loose board on the bridge that fell in the river when I stepped on it. I’d lost my balance and nearly fell into those deep brown waters.
“You don’t need to thank me,” he said. “Anyone would’ve done the same.”
“I don’t know about that. My brother might have let me fall,” I said.
Juan chuckled. “Yeah, maybe.”
Oh, how I loved his smile. In truth, I loved everything about him. He was the only boy in the region who paid me any attention. Other boys just wanted to play with Alberto since they didn’t think I was capable of doing fun things, like climb trees or fish. But Juan was different. He always found ways to include me in his games with Alberto, and if my brother’s mean friends would leave me alone, Juan would come find me or invent a game where I could partake. He even taught me how to swim. I was so lucky to have him as a neighbor. But I shouldn’t fool myself—he’d only held my hand so I wouldn’t fall and drown. He was just being a decent person.
“What do you have in there?” I asked, peeking into the box. It was filled with stones and leaves.
With his stick, he shuffled the stones exposing a long snake.
I cringed.
This topped it all. I’d known Juan to collect frogs and lizards. He even had a black widow spider once because he was fascinated by the fact that she would kill the male after mating.
I was so embarrassed every time he mentioned mating, even if it was between insects. Especially now with my unrequited devotion for him.
I never minded his collections before, but those animals never hurt anyone. They were just ugly to look at, but interesting. Snakes, on the other hand, scared me ever since I’d heard from one of the maids that the carpenter’s son had died of a poisonous bite.
“Her name is Lola,” he said, as if he was talking about a family friend.
The snake had a beautiful pattern in red and black. I was strangely attracted to this creature, more so than the black widow he’d already discarded.
“Is she friendly?” I said.
“As friendly as snakes can be.” He shrugged. “Usually this type of snake doesn’t like to be near humans, but Lola is different. She lets me touch her sometimes.”
“Can I?”
He knelt beside the box, setting the stick on the ground. Very slowly, he reached out for her and rubbed her.
“It’s me, Lola,” he said. “Want to meet my friend?”
The snake remained still. Juan turned toward me and grabbed my hand. My heart did a flip.
I crouched beside him and he guided my fingers toward the snake’s body, which was softer than I’d ever imagined. And so cold.
“I like her,” I said.
“I think she likes you, too.”
After a moment, Lola slid away from us and hid behind a rock in the corner of the box. Juan helped me stand and dropped my hand.
“You look different today,” he said.
“Different, how?”
“I don’t know. Older.”
I refrained from smiling. I so wanted him to touch my hand again. Or even . . .
As if reading my mind, he leaned over and brushed his lips against mine. His kiss was so unexpected I remained stiff. I’d never had another face this close to mine before and I did my best not to bump my nose with his. Maybe I should close my eyes? That was what the heroines in those novels my mother hid under the mattress always did. When I closed my eyes, something weird happened. Juan inserted his tongue inside my mouth. It was warm and wet. I panicked and pushed him back. What kind of kiss was this? What did the tongue have to do with anything? The books didn’t talk about tongues.
“Sorry,” he said.
“No, don’t apologize. I . . . I just wasn’t expecting that.”
“I have to go,” he said. “My father wanted me to help him with something.”
I knew he was lying. The entire town knew his father had only one obsession in life: chess. He’d given up on everything else a long time ago: his work, his family, or any activity outside staring at his chess board and studying every move and book on the subject he could get his hands on.
I didn’t say this, of course, I would rather die than embarrass Juan—I loved him so. I wanted him to kiss me again. I would even take his tongue inside my mouth if it meant he wouldn’t leave.
But the magic was over.
He was about to say something else, but instead, he picked up his box and walked away.
What was I supposed to do now with this grasshopper jumping up and down in my stomach? I could barely suppress my own desire to jump and scream myself. I never thought Juan liked me this way. From now on, I would always wear this dress. He said I looked older in it.
I stared after him as he walked away with the snake.
CHAPTER 15
Puri
April 1920
If you saw Soledad Duarte from a distance you wouldn’t think there was anything wrong with her. She must have been beautiful once with that abundant, wavy mane. But up close, you would notice a thick scar starting on her throat, across her collarbone, and continuing into the neckline of her blouse. As you glanced up immediately—to avoid being rude—you might notice her angular eyebrows, which appeared to be painted with a fine brush, and you would also see that despite her confident stance, there was a frailty about her, as if the mere act of breathing took an extraordinary effort.
Her house, if you could call it that considering there was only one room, was made entirely out of reed. The place looked more like a storage room than a home, but after I’d knocked on her door and requested her professional services as a healer, she led me into a clear corner of the room with a table and two chairs.