Page 193 of The Moon Sister
‘Yes, because I will miss her very much, but I know it was her time to go, so I am happy for her. She was no longer comfortable in her body, you see. They wear out and the soul must move on to be free.’
‘I am sorry, Angelina.’ Lucía put an arm around her. ‘But you are safe here with us now.’
‘Gracias, but you know I must go back to the forest to see my friends and pick my herbs?’ Angelina told them, panic in her blue eyes.
‘We do. Now, I will get you something to eat.’
‘No, I cannot eat until afterMaestrais in the earth.’
‘Tomorrow, we will go early to Sacromonte,’ María promised.
‘Thank you. I think I would like to sleep now, please.’
‘We shall put you in the nursery. There is a small bed in there all ready for you,’ María said as the child stood up, her features drawn with extreme fatigue. ‘Come with me.’
‘Is she settled?’ Lucía asked her mother when she returned to the terrace.
‘She climbed beneath the blanket and was asleep within twenty seconds. The poor child. She is so calm tonight, but she must be in shock. Micaela is everything she has ever known.’
‘She does not seem so,’ Lucía commented, ‘but then she is the oddest child I’ve ever met.’ Lucía stubbed out a cigarette and lit another. ‘What I am thinking is how you and I and Angelina can dig a hole big enough for Micaela to be buried in and carry her to it.’
‘You are right,’ María agreed, ‘we cannot. So, we must find some men who can help us. You see, Lucía, they come in useful for some things, don’t they?’ she added with a glimmer of a smile.
*
Angelina woke them both just after dawn, looking rested and bright as a sunflower.
‘We must leave,’ she said. ‘Themaestrais anxious to begin her journey to the Upperworld.’
As the sun rose over the Alhambra, the three of them approached the cave.
Dead in the bed where she helped me give birth. . . María thought, as Angelina opened the front door. The stench of flesh already rotting in the heat was palpable inside. Lucía shook her head.
‘Sorry, but I will vomit,’ she said as she turned back from the door. ‘Angelina, do you know of any families who live here who have young men who might help us bury themaestra?’
‘Sí, Lucía. We will try next door.’
María watched as Angelina walked up the incline to the cave beyond hers.
‘Surely that is deserted? Ramón, he was taken by the Civil Guard ten years ago . . .’ she said as Angelina rapped on the door, then walked straight in.
‘He came back three weeks ago . . . Ramón?’ she called to the bedroom beyond the familiar kitchen they were standing in. ‘It is I, Angelina, and we need your help.’
There was some grunting from behind the curtain, then an emaciated man with a long grey beard appeared from behind it.
‘¡Dios mío!’ María’s hand flew to her mouth as tears appeared spontaneously in her eyes. ‘Ramón, is it really you?’
‘I . . . María! You are back! How? Why?’
‘I thought you were dead! The Civil Guard, they came . . .’
‘Yes, and they threw me in their prison and left me to die, but somehow, as you can see, I did not.’ He coughed – the rattle so similar to the one María had listened to before Felipe had died. ‘Then I was many months in thepayohospital, which was not much better than the prison. But you, María, you are more beautiful than ever!’
‘Ramón, I cannot believe you are alive. I—’
‘Come, let me hold you,querida.’
Lucía swallowed a lump in her throat as her mother went into Ramón’s fragile, stick-like arms.
