Lisbeth tried to comfort Bianca with what little she did know about her aunt. “She’s a technician or something like that,” she said. “At a doctor’s clinic, I think.” She really didn’t know. Sometimes she had caught parts of conversation between her aunt and her grandparents, and she would always hear the word “clinica,” so she assumed it was a doctor’s office.
“She is really nice,” she said, trying to convince them both. The truth was, it had been a few years since she had seen her aunt. “I’m sure she’s great. But anyway, I’m just worried about whether she’ll be able to keep us for a long time. I mean, it must cost money to help us with everything. I have hardly any clothes with me, and what if they are the wrong kinds of clothes? And what about school? Do we have to pay for materials?”
Lisbeth had brought the money she had been saving over the past few years, but in total it amounted to about a hundred and fifty US dollars. She wasn’t sure how much that would buy, but hopefully it would be enough so that they wouldn’t be too much of a burden on her aunt. She knew Bianca only had about fifty because she had left the rest to her grandparents.
As the sky darkened and the stars came out, the bus creaked on to complete the last leg of their trip. “What are we going to do if my tia Lenna can’t keep us too long?” Lisbeth whispered. They had joined their rebozos together for warmth, the cool glass of the window beginning to glisten with water drops.
Bianca shrugged. “Come back?” she said. “But thank her, of course. I mean, she got us the tickets and at least a little bit of time.”
“But isn’t it better to come to school here and stay? To go to a university here?” The wheels in Lisbeth’s head were turning. She knew that most of the time, kids left public school and started at a university at about age eighteen. That gave them four years. Four years to save more money, to do well in school, to prepare for their future. Would that be enough time? Could her aunt Lenna support them for that long? And what if they couldn’t go to a university?
A slight panicked feeling rose up in Lisbeth’s chest. What would happen once they got to her aunt Lenna’s home? What would they do? She looked over at Bianca, but Bianca had already drifted off to sleep.
❦
The bus made odd mechanical noises every time it slowed down. As the sun rose, drops of water on the windows streaked down the glass. The passengers all began to stir, and a movie started playing on the television set above the seats. It was about a girl who was in love with a vampire. Bianca watched, thinking about the garlic her grandmother hung over the back door to keep out vampires. She couldn’t imagine this boy-vampire the type to hunt them for their blood.
As they grabbed their bags and walked down the metal steps of the bus, Bianca quickened her pace to keep up with Lisbeth. “Wait, Lisbeth,” she called. “Wait for me.”
Lisbeth had started to jog ahead, scanning the faces for one she recognized, although she couldn’t really be sure she would recognize her aunt. “I don’t see her,” she said, and she continued to move forward through the crowd.
Bianca looked around. There was something wrong. The people were gathered in groups and some were moving around to other passengers, talking quickly. She could hear them saying dinero and saw them looking through their bags. As she walked forward to catch up with Lisbeth, a woman bumped into her. Her face was wrinkled from the sun. She looked up at Bianca. “My money, all my money, it’s gone,” she said. “You didn’t find any money, did you?”
Bianca shook her head and showed the woman her pouch. “No, I’m sorry. I just have my own money,” she said. She moved forward again, but then she turned back to look at the woman who had remained standing there, unmoving.
Lisbeth had moved far away from the crowd into a parking lot until there—there she was, waving. Her aunt Lenna. Almost the perfect image of her mother. Lisbeth’s foot moved back and she almost lost her balance. Her heart heavy, she waved as her aunt walked toward her to meet them.
Lenna smiled and embraced Lisbeth. “I am so glad you are here,” she said quietly.
It took Lisbeth a moment to speak, but she finally managed to embrace her aunt and nod. “Me, too,” she replied.
Her aunt turned and hugged Bianca, who had been hesitating to the side, not wanting to ruin their greeting. “Welcome, Bianca,” she said kindly. Bianca smiled shyly. “Do you both have all of your things?” she asked them.
Lisbeth nodded. “Yes. Yes, we do.”
Bianca glanced over her shoulder, but said nothing.
“Are you hungry? You must be so tired after being in that bus all those hours,” Lenna said.
“Yes, we are,” Lisbeth nodded. “Come on, Bianca, let’s go,” she said, pulling Bianca’s arm.
“Well then, let’s go get something to eat. Then we can talk about everything we have to do to get you started in the high school near my house. Our house,” Lenna added, smiling.
Once they got into the car and began to drive away, Bianca looked back at the crowd again. As the people moved around and parted, she could still see the old woman standing near the bus, clutching her bag to her chest.
❦
Act V
To say that they enjoyed school would be a great understatement. Bianca and Lisbeth embraced their new life with vigor, promising each other they would not let their families’ money go to waste. The first few years were rocky, but they had soon mastered the English language and were competing with each other for the top spot in their graduating class.
They had made sure to volunteer anywhere they could. Bianca spent many of her weekends at the animal clinic—not doctor’s clinic after all—where Lisbeth’s aunt Lenna worked, and Lisbeth spent much of hers volunteering at the local science museum, helping groups of small children with activities and giving tours. During the weekday evenings, Lenna dropped them off at the mall, where they both had jobs at clothing stores.
School was out for their final summer as high school students when they heard about the contest the local space center was holding. High school seniors were eligible to apply for one of two spots on the next shuttle mission, where they would spend some of their first year as college students in orbit. The contest would also provide a full scholarship to the student’s college of choice, provided the student was accepted to the college.
Lisbeth and Bianca were reading the flyer Lenna had brought home from work. Applications were due at the end of the summer, and applicants would also need to meet certain physical requirements which winners of the contest would work to improve to prepare for conditions in space. Lisbeth looked at herself and then at Bianca.
“What do you think?” asked Lenna.
“That sounds incredible,” Bianca said. “But do you think we would get it?”
Lenna smiled. “Why not? You both are at the top of your class, you have a lot of extracurricular activities and you volunteer and work. And you’re not in bad shape,” she added.
Bianca nodded. Lisbeth remained quiet.
“Imagine what winning this would do,” Bianca said. “We could keep working and save more money, for our grandparents,” she said.
Lenna smiled. “And for yourselves.”
Bianca knew that both of their grandparents were not doing very well, and that although Lenna sent them money, she was not sure it was enough. She had tried giving Lenna money from her own earnings, but she did not make much.
“You should apply. You never know,” Lenna said.
Lisbeth looked at her. She knew that Lenna would have loved to apply and had wanted to be an astronaut her whole life. Imagine knowing that your dream was never going to come true. Lisbeth looked away. She couldn’t let that happen to her. This was the way. This was the key to a great life, the life she had always wanted. She would apply. And she would win.
As they filled out the forms, Bianca was excited to see how much they had done over the past few years. Their final grade point averages had not been calculated, but Bianca knew that she and Lisbeth scored the same in every
class. She tried to ignore the gossip at school, that she and Lisbeth cheated. She knew that Lisbeth’s mental ability probably surpassed her own, and that they both stayed up late working on assignments and making sure they were as good as they could be. The circles under their eyes were not from cheating.
As the application deadline loomed, Lisbeth became restless. Applicants would know within a few days whether they were the winners of the contest, because training for the experience would have to begin almost immediately.
Bianca wanted to win more than anything, but she knew that if given the choice, she would give up her spot for Lisbeth. Lisbeth’s grandparents were very sick, and although Lenna tried not to show it, Bianca sometimes caught a tight smile or heard a strain in her voice. She thought of her own grandparents, and how she would feel if they were as sick as Lisbeth’s. She tried not to show it, but she felt that if her own grandparents were gone, she would surely die. What would be left for her?
She shook her head and tried to think positive. No one was going to die. Lisbeth’s grandparents had always been strong. They would get better.
❦
The deadline came and went, and on the afternoon of the seventh day after it had passed, when Bianca had given up on checking the mail, Lisbeth rushed in. In her hand was a large white envelope with a rocket logo on the top left corner.
Lenna stopped scrambling the eggs and Bianca rose, slightly. She grinned. At least one of them had gotten it.
As Lisbeth ripped open the envelope, two booklets and two letters fell out. Bianca reached down and picked them up, seeing her name on one of the letters. The other was addressed to Lisbeth. Before her vision became too blurry, she read the first few words on the letters:
Congratulations on your acceptance to the Hecate mission!
Lisbeth took the sheets from her hands as Bianca sat down. She looked up at Bianca. “We both got in?” she asked.
“No way!” Lenna screamed. She rushed over and looked at the letters, then picked up the booklets, running her fingers over the gold embossed letters: HECATE.
“I can’t believe it,” Bianca said, her voice barely a whisper.
Lisbeth said nothing.
“We have to celebrate!” Lenna said. She poured the scrambled eggs into her dog’s bowl and grabbed her purse. “To the mall!”
Lisbeth and Bianca floated to the car, each lost in her own thoughts.
“I can’t believe they picked you both!” Lenna repeated over and over. She looked at them and smiled the biggest smile, the most real smile Bianca had seen in months. At least for the moment, Lenna can forget about her parents, Bianca thought.
“Aren’t you excited?” Lenna asked Lisbeth, who was staring out the car window.
Lisbeth seemed to wake up. “Yes. Yes, of course!” she answered. But something was wrong. Bianca couldn’t put her finger on it, but she felt it.
“Don’t tell me you’re scared of heights?” Lenna teased.
Lisbeth smiled. “No. I’m not. It’s just…”
“A shock,” Lenna finished for her. “Well, you’re going to need to get used to it. You’ll be all over the news pretty soon, for sure! Everyone in the world is going to know who you are.”
“Everyone in the world,” Lisbeth replied.
❦
There was a large Le Madeleine bakery and café in the mall, along with an assortment of department stores and independent businesses. As they walked through to the bakery, a flutter of movement to the left caught Lisbeth’s eye. There was a florist shop at the end of the hallway. She looked up at the sign, decorated with a single golden flower, and stopped. Three Sisters Flower Shop.
The glass windows were difficult to see through, there were so many colorful flowers in the way. But the main roses were yellow, and Lisbeth knew they were there, waiting for her.
“Lisbeth, come on!” she heard Lenna say. They had gone on to the end of the main hall and were about to turn right.
“I-I just have to go to the bathroom.” She pointed to the left. “I’ll meet you there.” She turned and walked on, not waiting for a response.
A wind chime jingled as she opened the door and let it close behind her. She looked up. The chime also had a golden flower. She walked through a maze of golden flowers in crystal vases to the counter in the middle. And there they were.
She wanted to ask so many things. Why hadn’t they come back to the cemetery all those years? Where were they during that time? Who were they, really?
But most importantly, what was the remainder of the prophecy?
The three sisters looked up. “Lisbeth,” they said in unison.
“Where is Bianca?” Amana asked.
“It doesn’t matter,” Lisbeth said. “You were right. I won. I mean, we won. A contest—to go into space. The whole world will know, they will see us. That’s what the prophecy meant, right? You were right.”
“We are never wrong,” Marzia said, smiling a little.
“So what happens after that?” Lisbeth wanted to ask if she would stay famous, rich even.
“You wouldn’t rather know about your grandparents?” Catalina asked solemnly.
“Shush, Catalina. She wants to know the rest of the prophecy. So we will tell her,” Amana said as she reached for a scroll on one of the glass shelves.
Lisbeth stood straighter. Amana unrolled the scroll almost completely, and the three sisters read:
“When one takes the place of two
When the sky falls
When the whole world listens
You will lose all.”
Amana rolled up the scroll again and held it tightly in her hand.
“No charge,” she said, waving Lisbeth away.
“What? What does that mean?” she asked, blinking.
Catalina sighed. “One reading per visit,” she said sadly.
“Then I’ll pay for another one. How much?” Lisbeth said. “There was more.”
“That fortune is not for you,” Marzia said. “That is Bianca’s ending.”
There was a chime and Lisbeth turned. A gray-haired man walked in and picked up a beautiful rose-colored vase filled with red blossoms. When Lisbeth turned back, the sisters were gone, and a tall woman with red hair was walking toward the man.
“Visiting your wife again?” she asked him.
“Every day,” he answered.
She jumped a little when she saw Lisbeth. “I’m sorry, Miss. I didn’t see you there. Can I help you?”
Lisbeth shook her head. “No, no, thank you,” she replied, and hurried out of the flower shop. As she turned the corner and headed toward the bakery, she thought she saw the shadows of three women moving down the hall.
❦
They had gone through the training exercises so many times, Bianca was dreaming about them. They would take off together in one of the first automated shuttles, Hecate, and deliver equipment to the International Space Station. They had memorized what would happen in the seconds prior to launch, and knew what to listen for before and after the shuttle lifted off the pad. They would only be in space ten days.
“I can do that,” Bianca told herself again and again. There would be no need for them to learn liftoff and landing controls. The shuttle was also equipped with an emergency escape pod just large enough for two people.
But the pod won’t work in space, a small voice in Bianca’s head whispered.
Lenna kept reading through the booklet and the brochures. By this time the whole world was waiting for the launch, waiting to see how two teenagers would fare in space, and how the beautiful Hecate shuttle would hold up. How many more automated missions could there be after this?
The light of the moon streamed in through the blinds the night before the launch. Bianca thought about saying something to Lisbeth, but what could she say? She was terrified, and the quiver in her voice was sure to give it away. They didn’t need to be any more nervous than they already were.
For a brief moment, Bianca wished she was back home with
her grandparents. She often thought of going back, but she knew that they were happy to know that she was doing well, that she would have more opportunities in her life than they did. And that her parents had wanted this for her all along. They’ll be watching, she thought to herself.
She heard a voice, and realized that Lisbeth was muttering in her sleep. At least one of us is asleep, Bianca thought.
She reached over to her shelf and grabbed her brown bear, placing him in the bag she would be taking with her. At least the voices of her parents would be with her on this journey.
❦
As the world watched, Bianca and Lisbeth walked toward the shuttle, accompanied by Lenna and several officials from the space program. Bianca could hear one of them, a woman in a green suit, saying, “They’re not ready yet. This is a mistake, they are too young. Sally Ride was thirty-two…”
Bianca stopped. “Maybe she’s right,” she began, but Lisbeth moved past her.
“That was a long time ago. Technology has changed, Bianca. It’ll be all right.” Bianca thought she saw Lisbeth roll her eyes, eager to keep going. Lenna smiled sympathetically.
As they prepared to separate and leave Lenna at the doors, Bianca and Lisbeth turned. “Good luck! This is going to change everything for you,” Lenna said.
Lisbeth smiled. “Yes,” she said decisively.
Bianca was not so sure. Her stomach felt like a ball of string, completely knotted up. She wanted to reach out to Lenna, to ask her to drive her to the bus station, back to her grandparents.
And then what? she asked herself.
And then I would be happy, came her reply.
But how could she? With the whole world, maybe even her grandparents, watching, how could she give up an opportunity some people only dreamed about? But after this, I’ll go visit them. I will go see them, spend time there, Bianca thought to herself. She smiled and returned Lenna’s hug, and she and Lisbeth continued on, walking side by side.
Perchance to Dream Page 10
