Ariel's Crossing - Bradford Morrow [39]
“You okay?” Marcos asked.
“Just surprised, is all.”
“That’s the idea.”
Two hours later, at the fiesta in Old Town Albuquerque, she saw one of her brothers across a crowded concession area billowing with violet smoke. She gasped. Instinctively glancing back toward where her own party had been absorbed into the crowd, she locked eyes with Kip. He’d noticed her blanching and half smiled at her—what else could he do?—before turning to see what she was looking at. No one stood out, nothing unusual seemed to be going on. Confused, he raised his eyebrows and shrugged, as if to ask, What’s wrong? Do you need help? Marcos walked up to her meantime.
“What have you been up to?” she asked, grateful for the reprieve from having to answer Kip.
“I found a birthday present at one of the booths.”
“Being here with you guys is gift enough.”
“Hardly.” Holding up a small brown paper bag, Marcos added, “Besides, it’s a done deal. I’ll give it to you later.”
She thanked him with a kiss on the cheek and said, “Speaking of which, it’s getting kind of late don’t you think?”
“We only got here an hour ago.”
“Maybe we should have lunch. I know a place near Placitas.”
“Well, it’s your day. Let me go find Carl and Sarah.”
Kip stood standing, as they say. Franny glanced again in the direction of her brother John, who had vanished into the ranging crowd of fiestagoers. Then she turned back to Kip.
“What are you looking for?”
“Nothing, why?” she lied, then changed the subject. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not that used to people caring whether it’s my birthday or not. Haven’t celebrated mine in years.” No sooner had her wistful remark slipped out than she asked herself, Why do I keep revealing myself to this man?
“You’re too young not to celebrate birthdays.”
She scumbled the moment, saying, “When’s your birthday, Kip?”
“I don’t have one.”
“They just dropped you here from another universe.”
“How did you know?”
“Really. When were you born?”
“Post-Christmas, nineteen forty-four. Between the Savior’s birth and the atom bomb. Rude syzygy.”
Where were the Montoyas? She had to get out of here. “What?”
“When the planets align. Causes strange things to happen.”
Franny felt compelled to pat Kip gently on the back. A gesture of affection. Of unmeditated fellowship. She was surprised by how thin he remained, yet how sturdy and solid he’d grown.
“Come on, Mary. What were you looking at before?”
“I told you not to call me that.”
“No one heard but you.”
“I thought I saw somebody I knew.”
“Your worst enemy or just a stray demon? You didn’t look too happy about whoever it was.”
“It’s not that. Just somebody I haven’t seen in a long time.”
“None of my business.”
“Doesn’t matter,” she said. “I was wrong, anyway.”
She put her hands in her pockets and stared at the pavement.
Kip said, “You know, if you ever need to talk to me some more about what you brought up a couple months back, I can be a pretty good listener. Not judgmental. Can’t afford to be.”
“You have kids?”
He shook his head.
“That’s too bad. You’d have made a good father.”
“I doubt that very much.”
“Well, I don’t,” and glanced up suddenly mindful that there was every chance her own father was somewhere in this throng.
Positioning herself subtly behind Kip, she searched the torrent of faces—so many cultures mixed in among them, people democratized by where they lived and the blue jeans they, like Franny, wore—and located her oldest brother, Jimmy, as well