Secrets of Paris_ A Novel - Luanne Rice [102]
“I’d like nothing better,” Michael said.
WHAT IF THE worst happened and the petition was denied? Kelly lay on her bed, trying to calm the thrill that ran all through her body. It was her day off; soon her sisters and brothers would be home, and Kelly had done hardly anything around the house. All she could do was pace the floor, flip through old magazines Patrice had given her, and listen to music. Right now Barry Manilow was singing about love in New England. Kelly wondered what New England was like. Patrice had told her it snowed there, and Kelly knew what snow was. She had seen it at least six times during the eighteen months since she had arrived in Europe.
“Hello, lazybones,” Marie-Vic said, interrupting Kelly’s thoughts.
“Yes, I’m lazy,” Kelly said. Usually she and Marie-Vic had the same day off, but Marie-Vic had a new part-time job cleaning the apartment of her employers’ daughter.
“What are you doing? Daydreaming about the States?”
“A little,” Kelly said.
“Do you think the fish markets are the same there?”
“I don’t know. I don’t even know if the fish are the same there.”
“I think it is so strange that a country like the States doesn’t have a national fish,” Marie-Vic said. “Maybe because it is so big and there are too many fishes to choose from.”
“I’ll miss milkfish in the States,” Kelly said.
“I’ll miss you,” Marie-Vic said, giving Kelly a pang in her heart. Kelly was Marie-Vic’s favorite sister. Marie-Vic told everyone that Kelly’s christening was one of the high points of Marie-Vic’s life. She couldn’t get over, especially, the importance of Kelly’s godparents: twelve vendors from the market, plus the son of the governor. So what if her parents had never met him? Kelly smiled fondly at Marie-Vic. “Are you the one who cast the spell?” Kelly asked. “The day of my interview?”
“Yes,” Marie-Vic said with a solemn smile.
Kelly thanked her. Their mother came from Visaya, a very remote island full of magic, phantoms, and a witch. She had two kinds of powers, Barang and Mankukulam, and had passed them on to some of her daughters. Kelly had never got the hang of it. Marie-Vic, the best at Mankukulam, had a drawerful of dolls that represented people they knew. If she met someone new she wanted to help or curse, she simply made a new doll. Their mother used to be known throughout the province as the best at Barang. She had plenty of bottles of insects, especially beetles, and when someone had an enemy they could visit her, pay her some money to do a ceremony, and the enemy would swell up and need an operation. Barang was the most dangerous. Kelly knew only two ways to protect yourself from it: either curse the witch, which took more bravery than most people had, or carry atis, the delicious fruit with smelly leaves.
“I want you to get to the States,” Marie-Vic said, “and to have dignity there. Don’t get caught doing what Annette did.” Kelly knew she referred to the time their sister disgraced herself in California. In their province it was customary for people to cook foods, then go outside calling out that they had good foods for sale. But when Annette tried that in San Diego, someone called the police. For the next month their sister Darlene had pretended she didn’t know her.
“Lydie will tell me what is proper and what is not,” Kelly said.
“You are so lucky to have Lydie and Patrice,” Marie-Vic said. She sat at the end of Kelly’s bed, her legs tucked under her. People thought Kelly and Marie-Vic looked alike, which pleased Kelly because she thought Marie-Vic, with her light skin, big dark eyes, and silky hair, was very pretty.
“You can work for Patrice after I leave,” Kelly said.
“Of all of us, you are the only one who has met Americans that let you call them by their Christian names.”
“It is true. I am lucky,” Kelly agreed.
“Christmas will be very different in the States,” Marie-Vic said.
“I know,” Kelly said sadly. Christmas in the Philippines was the longest Christmas in the world. The rule was, it lasted through all the “ber” months: September, October, November, and December. All the radio