How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents Read Online Free Page B

and beyond, the gratifying sight of the car still on the side of the road. It is a pleasure to stand upright again. Jos6 rests his burden on the ground and straightens his back to full measure. Yolanda looks up at the sky. The sun is low on the western horizon.
    "The others must have gone to gather kindling,"
    Jos@lobserves.
    Yolanda glances at her watch-it is past six o'clock. At this rate, she will never make the north coast by nightfall. She hurries Jos@lback to the car, where they find a heap of guavas the other boys left behind on the shoulder of the road. Enough guavas to appease even the greediest Island santo
    for life!
    They pack the trunk quickly, and climb in, but the car has not gone a foot before it lurches forward with a horrible hobble. Yolanda closes her eyes and lays her head down on the wheel, then glances over at Jos@l. His eyes are searching the inside of the car for a clue as to what could have happened. This child won't know how to change a flat tire either.
    Soon the sun will set and night will fall swiftly, no lingering dusk as in the States. She explains to Jos@lt they have a flat tire and mst* go back down the road to the big house.
    Whoever tends to the brown Mercedes will surely know how to change a tire.
    "With your permissionst" Jos6 offers. The dona can just wait in the car, and he will be back in no time with someone from the Miranda place.
    Miranda, Miranda.... Yolanda leans over and gets her aunt's list out of the glove compartment, and sure enough, there they are.
    Tia Marina y Ho Alejandio Miranda-Altos de Altamira.
    A note elaborates that Tio Alejandro was the one
    who used to own English saddle horses and taught you four girls to ride.
    "All right," she says to the boy. "I'll tell you what." She points to her watch. "If you're back by the time this hand is over here, I'll give you"-she holds up one finger-"a dollar." The boy's mouth falls open. In no time, he has shot out of his side of the car and is headed at a run toward the Miranda place. Yolanda climbs out as well and walks down a pace, until the boy has disappeared in one of the turnings of the road.
    From the footpath that cuts through the grove on the opposite side of the road, she hears the sound of branches being thrust aside, twigs snapping underfoot. Two men, one short and dark, and the other slender and light-skinned, emerge. They wear ragged work clothes stained with patches of sweat; their faces are drawn. Machetes hang from their belts.
    The men's faces snap awake at the sight of her. Then they look beyond her at the car. The darker man speaks first. "Yours?"
    "Is there some problem?" he speaks up again. The taller one is looking her up and down with interest.
    They are now both in front of her on the road, blocking any escape. Both-she has sized them up as well-are strong and quite capable of catching her if she makes a run for it. Not that she can move, for her legs seem suddenly to have been hammered into the ground beneath her. She considers explaining that she is just out for a drive before dinner at the big house, so that these men will think someone knows where she is, someone will come looking for her if they try to carry her off. But her tongue feels as if
    it has been stuffed in her mouth like a rag to keep her quiet.

    The two men exchange a look-it seems to Yolanda-of collusion.
    Then the shorter, darker one speaks up again.
    "Senorita, are you all right?" He peers at her.
    He is a short man, no taller than Yolanda, but he gives the impression of being quite large, for he is broad and solid, like something not yet completely carved out of a piece of wood. His companion is slim and tall andofa rich honey-brown color that matches his honey-brown eyes. Anywhere else, Yolanda would find him extremely attractive, but here on a lonely road, with the sky growing darker by seconds, his good looks seem dangerous, a lure to catch her off her guard.
    "Can we help you?" the shorter man repeats.
    The handsome one smiles