Tall Story - Candy Gourlay [34]
Do you feel guilty? Guilty? Guilty?
Not guilty. I didn’t deserve her accusations despite what happened. I didn’t even know that Nena was Gabriela’s mother. Although I should have guessed. There was a similarity in the arch of their eyebrows, the curl of their lips. Gabriela was a young beauty and Nena was – used to be – a handsome woman.
She was the village witch.
And she terrorized San Andres in the same way Gabriela terrorized the school.
She wielded good magic and bad. White magic – love potions and spells for fine weather and high grades – was not her bread and butter, though she rarely turned away business when it came.
Black magic was her big ticket, the ruin of a rice crop, a plague of dengue fever, the seduction of a virgin, the nasty accident. Her clientele came from far away and crossed her palm with the kind of wealth people in San Andres could only dream of.
Who would dare defy that kind of power? Who would dare stand up to a woman like Nena?
She and Gabriela had a dog named Judas, a cross between a German shepherd and a boxer. Nena once turned up with Judas on our street and Old Tibo’s dog, Flash Gordon, rushed joyfully towards him to sniff his bottom as friendly dogs do. Flash Gordon would do anything for a pat on the head. But Judas, it turned out, was not of the same love-hungry mould. Judas was vicious for no other reason than that he was born vicious. Poor Flash Gordon found that out soon enough – and now has half an ear to show for it.
Shopkeepers looked the other way when Nena bypassed the till or helped herself to an extra measure of rice or grabbed another tin of tuna. Far better for the books to fall short than to suffer some mysterious illness.
Tricycle cabs stopped for her even when they had passengers. The passengers got off without complaint and let her have their fare. It was said that she was quick to punish any sign of disrespect.
Sebastian, the tricycle driver, was in such a rush to meet his girlfriend one day that he didn’t stop when Nena tried to flag his cab. People nearby saw Nena raise one crimson-nailed finger in a strange gesture. One of the tyres on Sebastian’s tricycle blew out with a massive bang. He careened into a bus speeding in the opposite direction.
He didn’t stand a chance.
At school, Gabriela exacted from us the same obedience and terror that her witch mother commanded from our parents. Gabriela and her gang ran roughshod over the playground on a daily basis. They got away with everything. My little packet of shells was only one small item in a long list of delinquencies.
So maybe I was being foolish when I decided to do what I did. Or maybe it was because I was just thirteen and had no sense. Or maybe the news that I wasn’t going to London after all made me reckless.
I don’t know.
Maybe I was just being totally, utterly stupid.
I decided to pay Gabriela back. I would steal that necklace she was always dangling at me. Then she would know how it felt to lose something.
But what happened next was not of my making.
Guilty.
Mad Nena’s voice whispered in my ears like poison.
No, I’m not.
Coward. Running away.
‘I am NOT running away,’ I said aloud.
Loser!
‘Leave me alone.’ I covered my ears.
It’s boiled itself dry!
‘Boiled itself …?’ I started at the illogical words.
‘THE POT!’ It was not Gabriela – it was Amandolina, screaming frantically at the bedroom door.
‘IT’S BOILED ITSELF DRY! AND THE BATH! YOU LEFT IT RUNNING AND IT’S FLOODED EVERYTHING!’
15
Andi
Surprise, surprise, it was all my fault.
‘If you had come home at four like you promised, this would not have happened!’ Mum yelled.
‘I was in detention!’ I yelled back.
‘Detention! Of all days to behave badly!’
‘I wasn’t behaving badly!’
‘But you were in detention!’
‘I left Bernardo a note. I told him not to do ANYTHING!’
‘But you were LATE!’
And on and on and on.
Anyway, the upshot was: Mum grounded me for a week.
Which, of course, was convenient. Now Bernardo was guaranteed his babysitter after school every day and Mum and Dad could