Flight to the Lonesome Place Read Online Free Page B

one?”
    â€œNo. I’ve never had a real friend.”
    She shook her head again. “How awfully lonely you must be! There was a time, a short time, when I didn’t have a friend either. Oh, it was terrible. Then I found two. ¡Gracias a Dios! Now I’m not quite so afraid.”
    â€œBut why should you be afraid at all? Haven’t you got relatives?”
    â€œRelatives!” Her face twisted as if she had bitten into a lemon. “I’d rather—”
    They were interrupted by a sudden rattling of the doorknob, followed by an angry knocking on the door itself. A woman called indistinctly, “Ana María Rosalita? ¿Me oye usted? ”
    The small girl slipped quickly to the door, but did not open it. “Yes, I hear you,” she replied in Spanish. “Please, Señora, why do you not leave me alone? I am not going back to the other stateroom. It is too warm, and the captain said I could have this one all to myself.”
    There was a sharp exchange between the two. “Little monster!” the woman cried finally. “I will settle with you later!”
    Ana María Rosalita stood a moment with her tiny hands clenched, but whether in fury or fright he could not tell. Finally she came back and again sat cross-legged on the bunk. Her pointed chin quivered.
    â€œYou see?” she said plaintively. “That is how it is. I am told to call her tí a—aunt—but the Señora Bretón is not really my aunt at all. She is Bernardo’s aunt, and she will do anything he says. If he told her to drown me like a kitten, I am sure she would do it, and love it.”
    â€œWho is Bernardo?”
    She sniffed. “My very old half brother. He runs everything. He sent the Señora up to this country to take me out of school. I think they plan to send me back to Santo Domingo. Nothing has been said, but I know. I have the trouble sign.”
    â€œReally? It hangs over you too?”
    â€œYes,” she said gravely. “It hangs over me, just as it does over you. Can you not see it?”
    Ronnie shook his head, hardly knowing what to make of her. Then he became aware that the racket outside had stopped.
    He got up suddenly, went to one of the portholes, and held the curtains aside. From where he stood he could not look down upon the dock, nor could he see much of the sky, for most of it was blotted out by the dark silhouette of a lifeboat. But he had a clear view of a small section of the lighted riverfront, and it seemed to be swinging slowly to the left.
    The Cristobal Colón was under way, turning to head downstream.
    â€œHey!” he whispered. “We’re leaving!”
    â€œOh, no!” she gasped.
    â€œBut don’t you want to leave?”
    She shook her head, and once more her pointed chin quivered. “I—I’ve been very unhappy in America, but at least I’ve been safe here. Now. I’ll never be safe again.”

3
    REWARD
    RONNIE STOLE A QUICK GLANCE at his wrist-watch, and suddenly realized he should be hunting for an empty stateroom. Now would be a good time, for apparently most of the passengers were still on deck, watching the departure. But he couldn’t leave yet. Ana María Rosalita seemed to be in as much trouble as he was.
    â€œâ€˜Never be safe again,’” he repeated. “What do you mean by that?”
    â€œExactly what I said.” She looked at him miserably. “Oh, if I’d just been born a boy! Then everything would be so different. I could run away like you are doing, and take care of myself and hide. But when you’re a girl—” Abruptly her face changed expression, and she added, “But maybe it’s better this way. If I were a boy, I wouldn’t be able to see what I can see, and do what I can do—”
    â€œYou sound as if you had an Irish grandmother,” he told her.
    Her chin went up, and for a moment her grand manner returned.