The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind

by Meg Medina

  Sonia knew they were right. She had a growing stack of money in her drawer that she had promised to wire home for Rafael’s truck — and it was very easy to make Teresa cross.

  She put the rice on the flame, thinking suddenly of Pancho, whom she’d dreamed of the night before, lying side by side in a field, their arms and legs touching. The memory of it still thrilled her. She liked to imagine his lips pressed warmly against hers and the words he might whisper in her ear as he held her. Pancho was nothing at all like Umberto Masón. She never felt cornered or leered at by him. Still, she wondered how one knew when it was true love and when, as Rafael often said, it was “something else.”

  “Look what I have here!” The back door opened, and Ramona stepped inside. She was back from market and carried a basket of fresh bread and white cheese. In her hand was a stack of letters.

  “The mail!” Eva squealed. “I thought you’d never get back.”

  She snatched the letters from Ramona and fanned through them. When she handed out the envelopes at last, Sonia felt her heart leap when she saw Pancho’s perfect penmanship. What would he say about the note she had left him?

  Sonia lifted the seal and started reading. Soon she had to reach for the counter to steady herself.

  “Mi vida, what is it?” Eva asked, looking up from her mother’s letter.

  A buzzing noise rose in Sonia’s ears as if she were at the ruins once again. She reread the note until the lines grew blurry. Her throat began to close.

  “Niña, what is it? Is there bad news?” Ramona rushed to take the letter and ease her into a chair.

  But Sonia’s head was already clouded with a vision.

  Rafael’s lifeless arms were laid across his chest, mint leaves pressed inside his pallid cheeks. Inside the growing rumble in her ears, Sonia heard neighbors whispering gossip about her parents. “The Ocampos are paying for a sin with their son’s flesh.”

  Eva’s voice pierced her stupor as she sat down. “Give me that.” She took the letter and read aloud.

  “As dictated to Francisco Muñoz by Felix Ocampo.

  “Hija,

  “Since you left, Rafael has disappeared, and Tía Neli has learned he may have tried to cross to find work. Surely he is in danger, or we would have heard from him by now. Use your prayers to save your brother, Sonia. You are the only hope we have. We depend on you completely.”

  Ramona sucked in her breath and ran to the pantry. “Dalia, boil water!” She rummaged furiously in a canister for the tea. “A shock like this is serious. My cousin lost six teeth on account of a fright once.”

  But Dalia did not budge from her spot at the cutting table. Her face was blank; her lips a white line. She pulled another chicken from the pile and took aim.

  “Did you hear me?” Ramona said sharply. “Boil the water!”

  The cleaver slammed down.

  “Damn it!”

  Dalia’s fingertip was quickly covered in blood. She wrapped it in her apron and cursed, her eyes flashing with angry tears.

  “For God’s sake, Ramona, how’s tea going to help anyone? Least of all Rafael!” she snarled.

  With a sharp bang, the door that led to the dining room swung open. Teresa stepped inside. Her opaque eyes were wide and curious. Like a vulture to a carcass, she had followed the scent of discord from the parlor.

  “What is this unseemly yelling all about, Ramona?” She looked from one stunned face to the other. “Can’t you keep your girls in order?”

  Ramona stepped forward. “Forgive us. It’s nothing at all, Teresa. Dalia has only nicked herself with the blade. You know young girls. Chatterboxes while they work. All this talk makes them careless.” She turned to Dalia. “Go on to the house. Get a bandage. You can see that this accident has made Sonia feel faint.”

  Teresa clicked her tongue, regarding the vacant expression on Sonia’s face, the pale blue of her lips.

  “Well, you should all know there’s no time for distractions in this house today,” Teresa said, sidestepping the spots of Dalia’s blood to find the good silver. “There are important things to think about today. La señora’s guests arrive in two hours.”

  Dalia paused near Sonia on her way out. “There was no stopping him; I can promise you that,” Dalia whispered in her ear. “Believe me, I tried.”

  ALL THE REST of the day things were out of sorts. The clocks that Eva had been ordered to wind stopped working without explanation. The gates in the paddock were mysteriously opened, and the frightened horses trampled the vegetable patch.

  Even dinner was spoiled. When Ramona brought the cod from the ice chest, she turned away in disgust.

  “¡Ave Maria! What’s this?” she cried. The fish bought fresh that morning was pungent and crawling with maggots.

  By night, an awful quiet blanketed La Casita. Dalia stitched the skin on her own finger with a boiled sewing needle and whiskey, seemingly impervious to the pain. Ramona wrote a long letter to her mother and Manuel to remind them of her love. Eva, who could not even calm herself with a book, tossed caution to the wind and lit candles in their room for Rafael. She fastened her hair into pin curls as she watched Sonia for signs of hysterical blindness through the reflection in the mirror.

  “You’ve been counting the spiderwebs for hours, mi vida. I can’t watch you suffer like this. I think your father is right. Your magic is very strong; everyone knows that. You can keep Rafael safe with your prayers. We’ll help.”

  Sonia turned over without a reply.

  The night sounds were magnified, and sleep would not come to Sonia’s rescue. She listened to the scratching of mice inside the walls, to faint snores, to the moan of the wind, like an old man dying. It rattled the balcony windows, as if a storm were brewing, though all day the sky had been cloudless. Sonia threw her legs over the side of the bed and peered out at the tree branches, silver against the dark purple sky. Then something caught her eye through the glass.

  Abuela was standing on the balcony. The old woman’s ghost stood with her hands outstretched. Sonia’s hair and nightgown whipped behind her as she stepped out on the balcony. The night air felt charged, and it made her shiver, but as she watched Abuela, she caught the comforting scent of Tres Montes after a rain.

  “I’m so glad you’re here,” Sonia told her. “Rafael needs your help.”

  But her grandmother only shook her head. “You are the only way forward, Sonia,” she replied.

  Sonia began to cry in shame. “I don’t know where my brother is! I can’t save him the way people think. You know it’s all been a lie.”

  Abuela took Sonia’s hand and pressed something into her palm. It was a small silver key.

  “Find the letter,” Abuela said. “Then find the Iguana.”

  “I don’t understand. What letter?”

  Abuela did not reply. Instead, she began to fade into the darkness.

  “Wait!” Sonia cried. “What am I supposed to do?”

  But it was no use. Abuela had vanished.

  Sonia stepped back inside her room. What could Abuela possibly mean about finding a letter, much less an iguana? She checked quickly. Her father’s note was still sitting on her bureau. She sat on the edge of her bed, thinking as she studied the key in the moonlight. It was almost an exact replica of the one she used for her own bedroom door. It had to open something in La Casita, but what door did it fit?

  The wind gusted until the curtains billowed like sails. Her bedroom door opened just a crack as if inviting her to the hallway.

  Creeping like a cat, she made her way along the dark hallway to Ramona’s door. She slid the key in slowly, but the lock did not budge.

  That left only one possibility.

  Sonia tiptoed along the creaky floor and put her ear to Dalia’s door to listen. Nothing. She put the key in and turned until the bolt made a small pop!

  “What are you doing?”

  Eva was standing behind her, rubbing her eyes.

  “Nothing,” Sonia whispered.

 
“It’s not nothing.” Eva stepped closer to get a better look at the key in the lock. “What are you doing with Dalia’s key?”

  “Looking for something. Go to bed.”

  “Now I know positively that you’re sick with an espanto,” Eva whispered, trying to pull her back. “If Dalia finds you going through her things like a common thief, she’ll kill you.”

  But Sonia only shot her a warning look and put a finger to her lips as she stepped inside the room. Dalia lay on her stomach, her injured hand hanging over the side of her bed.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Eva urged.

  “Shhh!”

  The nightstand drawer was empty. Sonia went to the wardrobe. Outside, tree branches clattered against the roof. Sonia could feel Abuela hiding somewhere in the trees, watching.

  “Where is it?” Sonia muttered.

  “Where is what?” Eva whispered. “Who are you talking to?”

  Sonia opened the squeaky wardrobe and felt inside the clothes pockets. They were empty.

  “Abuela. She came to the balcony. She told me to find a letter, and I know it’s in here.”

  Eva clapped her hands to her mouth. Her frightened eyes scanned the sky outside the window, as if at any moment something might crush her. Sonia knew she hated ghosts almost as much as she loved romance.

  Dalia’s suitcase was stored on the wardrobe floor. Sonia ran her fingers blindly through the compartments until at last her fingers found something. She held up the envelope triumphantly to the moonlight. Rafael’s handwriting was clear.

  In a flash, they were across the hall and huddled in Sonia’s bed. Eva lit a candle, and Sonia read the letter as quickly as she could in the dim light.

  Dalia —

  I’ll miss your kisses, but when I’m working, I’ll come back with plenty of presents for you to make the wait worth it. Conchita’s friend is hiring workers for his restaurant. It all looks good. Keep an eye on my baby sister. I trust no one better than you.

  Remember me.

  Rafael

  Sonia’s mind raced. So this was the letter. But there was nothing here about a lizard. There was nothing here at all that could help Sonia find Rafael. She could think of only one person who might be able to help her now.

  She ran to the window and leaned over the balcony, gauging the drop to the garden below. If she hung from the balustrade by her hands, she could reach the rose trellis. She already had one leg over the railing before Eva lunged after her in a panic.

  “Get back here! Where do you think you’re going? You can’t leave me here with your grandmother’s spirit blowing around!”

  “I’m going to the main house to make a phone call. I have to find out who Conchita Fo sent Rafael with.”

  But Eva only pulled back harder.

  “Using la señora’s phone without permission? No! It will be trouble for all of us if you’re caught, and I can’t risk my hide for you, Sonia. You’re staying right here, mi amor,” Eva said. “Don’t make me wake Ramona.”

  Sonia thought quickly and rushed back inside. She dug through her closet until she found the fancy shoes Tía Neli had given her as a traveling gift.

  “Take these,” Sonia said, holding up the high-heeled shoes. “My aunt says they’re wonderful for dancing.”

  The heels were stacked, the toes pointed and shiny. Eva hesitated.

  “Take them,” Sonia urged. “Take them and say nothing. I’ll be back in a little while — I swear it on Luis’s grave.”

  Moments later Sonia stole across the damp grass in her white nightdress. From the balcony it seemed to Eva that her friend’s feet were barely touching the ground. She shuddered to see that the girl moved like a ghost herself.

  THE PARLOR DOORS were already open when Sonia arrived, as though she’d been expected in the eerie purple room. Her bare feet felt cold against the tile as she crept toward the phone on the desk. At this hour, the chairs looked like hunchbacks, the clock on the mantle like the face of a demon.

  Sonia stared at the phone, trying to decide how best to reach Pancho — not that there were many options. There were only three telephones in all of Tres Montes to choose from: one at the telegraph office, another with Señor Arenas, and the third at the police station. At this hour of the night, only the police station would have anyone there who could fetch Pancho from his bed.

  It took six rings before a young man’s sleepy voice came on the line.

  “Police.” Static crackled through the line. “Hello?”

  “Yes, yes, I’m here,” Sonia stammered.

  “Who is calling?”

  “This is Sonia Ocampo. Is that you, Tomás?”

  Tomás Melendez was the police chief’s apprentice, a boy not much older than Sonia.

  “Sonia Ocampo?” Another series of crackles sounded. “Speak up,” he said. “You sound a million miles away.”

  “I am a million miles away — or very nearly. I’m working in the capital.”

  “What’s the matter, then, for you to be calling in the middle of the night?”

  A sound behind her made Sonia turn to listen. Nails against tile floor and a faint whine: the greyhounds were wandering nearby. She cupped her hand over the receiver and lowered her voice further.

  “Listen carefully, Tomás. I need to speak to a friend of mine. It’s very urgent. Can you find him for me at this hour? I’d be grateful forever.”

  “Who is it?”

  “Pancho Muñoz . . . from school. He lives with Señor Pasqual now. He’s —”

  “Pancho Muñoz? The orphan?”

  “The taxi boy.” There was no time to argue. “Can you find him quickly? I can call back in exactly ten minutes.”

  Tomás hesitated. “I don’t know, Sonia. Is this urgent business? This is a police station, after all. Capitán Fermín wouldn’t like me lending his phone for social calls.”

  “For God’s sake, Tomás. Do you think I’d call to chat at this hour? Now, stop dallying, please. I’ll call back in ten minutes.”

  She hung up the phone and crawled under the desk to wait.

  Ten minutes later, Pancho picked up the phone on the first ring.

  “Sonia! Is that you? What’s wrong?”

  Static crackled loudly, but Sonia could make out his voice. For the first time since reading her father’s letter, she felt a ray of hope.

  “Pancho! Forgive me for waking you in the middle of the night. I hate to ask this, but you said I could call you if I ever needed anything. I need your help now.”

  “I’ll do anything. What do you need?”

  “I need to know about my brother’s disappearance.” There was a long pause on the other end of the line as Sonia listened to the pops and fizzles. “Hello? Are you still there?”

  “Yes,” Pancho whispered. “I’m sorry.”

  “Listen carefully,” she continued. “I have a question.”

  “Sonia, I —”

  “What do you know about iguanas?”

  “What?” he blurted out.

  “Iguanas! Like the lizard.”

  “Nothing; everything.” Pancho stammered. “Is that the question?”

  “Yes.”

  “Ah.” He sounded strangely relieved. “But what does that have to do with helping you? I don’t understand.”

  “I wish I knew! It’s that Rafael is missing, and Abuela has just come to see me about it. She told me to find an iguana. Oh, I don’t know. It’s all a mess. All I know for certain is that Conchita Fo made his arrangements. Please, Pancho, see what you can find out.”

  “But —”

  Sonia sat up and listened. There was whimpering next door and the sound of shuffling.

  “Sonia?” Pancho’s voice was still coming through the receiver. She hung up just as the door swung open.

  THE GREYHOUNDS BOUNDED in, jumping up at her. Sonia let out a tiny yelp.

  Smiling in the doorway — and admiring the silhouette of her figure through her thin nightdress — was Umberto Masón.

  �
�Imagine finding a pretty prowler in the middle of the night. Were you sleepwalking, or am I the one dreaming?” he asked a little too pleasantly. He was still in a dress shirt and black pants, recently returned, she assumed, from one of his parties.

  Sonia felt his eyes on her breasts. She crossed her arms and kept her eyes trained on him as he walked slowly in her direction.

  Umberto gave her a knowing look as he spotted the phone nearby.

  “What are you doing here barely dressed? Not that I’m complaining.”

  Sonia’s tongue felt too thick to move.

  “No, you don’t have to answer,” he said, shrugging. “I think I can already guess. It’s terrible to find yourself alone in bed. You were in my aunt’s parlor making calls to your boyfriend to help you feel better. Without permission. Yes?”

  Sonia could smell the cigars and scotch on his clothes.

  “Don’t worry,” Umberto continued, smiling. “My aunt has many silly rules. Your secret is safe with me. In fact, all of you is safe with me.”

  Sonia forced herself to speak.

  “It’s not what you believe, Señor Umberto,” she whispered. “I’m sorry to have taken such liberties. I needed to call home right away; there’s been an emergency.”

  “Oh?” He was staring again at her necklace, at the buttons on her nightdress, at the points of her breasts through the fabric. “What’s the emergency?”

  Here Sonia fell silent. How could she explain about Rafael, about Abuela?

  “It was silly,” she said finally. “A misunderstanding that’s all resolved now. I’ll go. Thank you again.”

  She started toward the open patio doors when his hand grazed her waist and pulled her back. She could feel the heat of his palm through her nightdress, but it was not at all a comfort. Nothing like the way she imagined Pancho’s hand would feel on her waist.

  “I have to go,” she said.

  “What’s the rush? It’s a lovely night, isn’t it?”

  Sonia’s heart quickened as his long fingers drew upward along her arms. Outside the wind gusted fiercely, snapping branches in the yard. Flash lightning lit the sky. The dogs, meanwhile, had dropped down and were growling at something outside.