Chapter 2: Hunt

IT HAD STARTED one day three weeks earlier without warning, as if someone turned out the lights and began to raise the curtain. I failed to notice the date, but it was the first of April when Sara, my housekeeper and cook, switched on.

“Switched on.” That’s an odd phrase but I don’t know how else to describe the sudden appearance of her smiles, enigmatic and suggestive at the same time, somewhere between the Mona Lisa and the Cheshire Cat. It felt like a performance.

Sara had been with me for more than three years by then. She’d come with the house when I rented it, and I was sold on her within minutes by the way she looked me in the eye and how clearly and directly she expressed herself. It was a two-way interview, and fortunately I passed her threshold test as well. I later learned she’d completed secondary school but had put off further study for lack of money.

About six months after I moved in, and we’d each completed the other’s probation period, she asked if her younger sister could come to stay with her in the tiny room where she slept at the top of the house, right next to the door to the azotea.

“Roberta is starting to run with the wrong crowd back home, don Alejandro. She’s not a bad girl, but some of the kids she’s seeing are going the wrong way. It’s a cow town, you know that, and a lot of these kids don’t think of a future much beyond cows. She won’t be trouble. She’s a hard worker and she can help me with the house and the cooking. She’s an excellent cook. Our mom made sure of that.”

“How old is she, Sara?”

“She’s seventeen, don Alejandro. She’s about to start her last year of high school.” Sara stopped and seemed to shake her head. “She’s smart enough for university, but she needs to get back on track. She’ll end up selling vegetables in the market if she doesn’t.”

“Invite her for the weekend, Sara, so I can meet her. I’ll pay for her bus ticket.”

I concealed my surprise when Roberta showed up the following Saturday. If the two were really sisters there must have been some recessive genes or whatever they’re called in that family, for while Sara was brunette and light brown like most folks here Roberta was several shades lighter and her hair was, if not blonde, heading in that direction.

I liked Roberta, I’ll say that straight out. She shared Sara’s forthright manner, a welcome trait in a culture where vague speech and flexible commitments were common. I’m sure more than one graduate thesis dissected the difference between ahora (“now”) and ahorita (“soon, or maybe next month or next year, or maybe never”).

We had several long conversations over the weekend about life in the capital, what she did with her time back home, and what she planned for the future. On that last point she wasn’t as clear as I would have liked. That confirmed Sara’s worry.

“Do you want to stay here with Sara and help around the house, Roberta?”

“Yes, don Alejandro. Very much.”

I looked from one to the other.

“My answer is `Yes,’ Sara, Roberta.”

I held up my hand when the two began to thank me.

“With two conditions. First, Sara, you are responsible for Roberta, here in the house and outside in school or wherever else she goes. Roberta, I expect responsible behavior from you.

“Second, Roberta, you will enroll in school immediately and graduate and do well enough to be admitted to university when you finish. If you need remedial work or to repeat a year of high school, with Sara’s help I will arrange it. If you need extra tutoring, I will provide it.”

I paused for a moment. I wanted to make sure Roberta heard and understood my next words.

“However, Roberta, if you slack off your studies or fail to do your part to help Sara in the house, that’s it, the deal’s over and you’re out of here with a bus ticket back home. No arguments, no BS.”

“Thank you, don Alejandro! You won’t be disappointed.” Roberta looked unsure about trying to hug me so I stuck out my hand instead and we shook on the deal.

“Another thing. Sara, I expect Roberta to help you with the household work and cooking, but only as her studies permit. Roberta, there will be a small allowance for you in exchange for your work. Also, I will take care of your school expenses.”

Sara stepped forward as if to hug me but she stopped at the last minute.

“I thank you again, don Alejandro, from the bottom of my heart,” she said. Roberta nodded her agreement.

We had two rooms up there. The storeroom was larger than Sara’s room so I had her exchange one for the other. Now there was space for two single beds, barely, and a metal wardrobe. Roberta returned the following week with a ratty suitcase and a couple of bundles of odds and ends. It didn’t take her long to settle in or for Sara to get her enrolled in school. As for the house, Sara had long since gotten her housekeeping down to a routine and her shopping and cooking organized to a T. It was easy to fit Roberta in and balance her work at home with her schoolwork.

Two weeks after Roberta came to us, Sara ushered her into my home office.

“Don Alejandro, Roberta completed her assessment exams this morning.” She turned to her sister beside her, a big grin on her face. “You tell him, Roberta.”

“I only have to make up two subjects over the summer, don Alejandro!” Her excitement was contagious, and without thinking about it I hugged her and then I hugged Sara.