CHAPTER 1

Tap.... Tap ... Tap ...

It was the first time Julio had seen The Mother's walking stick upclose. It looked like a broom-handle that cost a lot of money. It had arubber tip on one end, but it was the other end that he couldn't take hiseyes off.

Tap ... Tap ... Tap ...

It was that end The Mother kept hitting against the table evenwhen nobody was talking. But it wasn't the hitting that made himnervous, it was the shape of that end of the walking stick. It was like ahook, big enough to grab him around the neck. All The Mother had todo was reach across the table and she could grab him or Rosa and pulltheir heads off. This was the first time he ever saw The Mother up closeand he didn't like what he saw. A few times he saw her walking aroundthe church going from one building to another building. The first timehe saw her he thought she had three legs, until he realized that oneof her legs was the walking stick. Now, up close, he could only thinkof a pumpkin. That's what her face looked like under her Nun's hat, acabeza with the face of a dead fish just before they cut its head off. Hercheeks were so puffy he thought any minute they would explode.

His sister Rosa was next to him and she was wearing long pants, too.She also had on a white blouse he had never seen before this morningwhen Sister Regina gave them these new clothes. Rosa held his hand.Each time he tried to take it away she pulled it back. He knew Rosa wasmad and scared. All he had to do was look at her lips.

Tap ... Tap ... Tap ...

Julio had never before been in The Mother's office. He was sureRosa had never been there either. You went to The Mother's office ifyou were caught stealing or talked fresh to a nun. He never did thosethings. He and Rosa stayed pretty much to themselves. They had onlya few friends.

It was a big room with a big wooden table in the center. There wasa lamp at each end of the table and a big rug nobody would step on.There were two chairs on the floor in front of the rug that faced TheMother's table. It was where he and Rosa sat. Everybody else stood inback of the rug. He only recognized Sister Regina and Sister Margaret.He didn't know anybody else. All of them walked around the sidesto get to the back. A big cross hung on the wall behind The Mother.Stacks of red folders in neat piles were on either side of her. Each redfolder had a different kid's name on it. If The Mother decided to sitbehind the folders you couldn't see her. Julio wondered what wouldhappen if all those folders fell to the floor.

If that happened, I wouldn't want to be in the same room with TheMother, he was thinking. She'd probably kill somebody with her walkingstick. He also couldn't remember ever seeing The Mother smile.

Tap ... Tap ... Tap ...

Every so often Julio would turn his head and look at Sister Reginawho kept rubbing her eyes, still red from crying. The Mother, stifflyseated behind the table, stared at Sister Regina. If he didn't know better,he'd think The Mother wasn't breathing. He couldn't remember seeingher eyes blink or her lips move, only her cheeks went in and out. Nobodytalked. He wished somebody would say something.

He didn't know how long they had been in The Mother's office.

"We don't want to go. We want to stay here. We ..." Rosa wasyelling, "We never did ..." and suddenly the walking stick came crackingdown across the table, the hook part almost hitting Rosa. Julio jumpedand grabbed it away from The Mother and was about to swing it at herwhen he was pushed to the ground and the walking stick pulled out ofhis hands.

"Let me go, let me go," he was screaming. "Nobody, nobody hit mysister. I kill anybody that try to hurt Rosa."

"Julio, stop, calm down. Nobody try to hurt Rosa." He recognizedSister Regina's voice. She was sitting on him so he couldn't move."I can't let you up unless you promise to sit in the chair and be still.Promise me."

"I kill anybody that try to hurt Rosa. I don't care if it The Motheror a priest or anybody. Nobody try to hurt Rosa." Julio could actuallyfeel his heart jumping in his chest.

"Nobody try to hurt Rosa. The Mother just banged the table,"Sister Regina brought her face up close so he could see her. "She wasnot trying to hurt Rosa." Both her hands were on his cheeks. "Nowcalm down so I can let you go. Promise me you'll just sit in the chairand be good."

"Why they sending us away?"

Sister Regina didn't answer him, but after, he didn't know how long,she let him up and put him back in the chair. Rosa grabbed his handand he could see the look on her face that said we better just do whatthey want.

* * *

Today he was eleven. He thought nobody remembered, not evenhis sister, Rosa. Two months ago, when she was fourteen, he wished herhappy birthday. About an hour ago, maybe even more, Sister Reginasuddenly appeared in the doorway of their room. She was holdingsomething folded in her arms.

"This is for you, Julio. Happy Birthday," she said.

It was a pair of long pants. He never had a pair of long pants. OnTV he watched sheriffs, farmers, big people wear long pants. In histown, rich people wore long pants when they went to church. In thecity, Blancos wore long pants when they went to work. They even worejackets that looked just like the long pants. They all looked like the oldpeople in his village the day they bury them. In his village, the only timeanybody wore a jacket that was the same as the long pants was the daythey put them in the ground.

He suddenly remembered what Sister Regina told him a long timeago. "Someday, when you go to San Juan, we buy you long pants." Whenhe looked up at her, she wasn't smiling. He start to think he wasn'tgoing to like this birthday present.

In the mountains of Puerto Rico, where he lived, picking coffeebeans and bananas, doing his jobs at the orphanage, going to school,he didn't need long pants. Going to church didn't mean you dressed up.The Sisters only made you take a bath and put on clean clothes.

"Today you and Rosa go to San Juan, then New York," Sister Reginasaid and then also handed him a new white shirt with a long pointedcollar. "You go live with relatives in New York," she continued.

"I don't want to go to New York. I don't want to go to San Juan. Ilike it here," Julio screamed.

"No, No. Calm down," She put her hand on his head like the priestwhen he give you abso something. "Here no good for you and Rosa.In New York you in a big city. You go to big schools. You live in a bighouse. Everything is big in New York. It will be better, you will see."

He looked at Rosa. She said nothing, but her lips were squeezedtogether and her eyes so wide open that her whole head was out ofshape. Rosa always looked like that when she was mad or scared. Hestarted to say something to Sister Regina, but stopped, when he sawshe was crying. If everything so good, so big in New York, why she cryingwhen she give me these long pants and new shirt? Besides, he didn't likethe idea of living with somebody he didn't know. He liked living herewith Sister Regina and most of the other nuns. A long time ago, beforehe could walk, Sister Regina told Rosa their mother and father werekilled in an accident. She told Rosa they had no relatives and that iswhy they live here with the nuns.

"How come all of a sudden we got relatives?" he asked SisterRegina.

"You get dressed now in your new pants and shirt. The Mother iswaiting," Sister Regina said, at the same time wiping her eyes...