Chapter 21 — The Unexpected Visit We Were Waiting For — Part I
The yellow flower looked worse than Selene had said.
Silvia crouched beside the small flower bed and moved aside one of the fallen leaves. The soil was far too wet.
Selene crouched beside her.
"Is it going to die?"
"We don't know yet."
"But it's sad."
"It looks sad."
Silvia pressed two fingers into the soil.
"I think it's had too much water."
Selene's eyes widened.
"Water can hurt it too?"
"If there's too much of it."
The little girl looked back at the flower as if that were profoundly unfair.
"But water is good."
"Usually."
"Then it shouldn't hurt it."
Silvia smiled.
"Things don't always work that way."
Selene seemed to think about that.
Then she reached for the flower.
Silvia gently stopped her hand before she touched it.
"Let it rest."
"I was only going to look."
"You can look without moving it."
Selene obeyed reluctantly.
"Check it again tomorrow."
The girl looked up.
"But you won't be here tomorrow."
Silvia met her eyes.
There it was.
The real reason Selene had hurried her out to the garden.
"I won't be here," she admitted. "But you can tell me about it later."
Selene fidgeted with her fingers.
"Are you going to see Nii?"
"Yes."
"Today?"
"Today."
Selene jumped to her feet.
"Wait!"
She ran toward a nearby bench.
Silvia watched her lift a small stone and retrieve a folded sheet of paper that had been held beneath it.
She came back almost running.
"Give him this."
Silvia took the paper.
"What is it?"
"A drawing."
"Can I see it?"
Selene hesitated.
"Yes, but don't fold it wrong."
"I'll do my best."
That seemed acceptable.
Silvia opened the page.
Four figures stood clustered around a smaller one in the center. Off to one side was a fifth figure holding an enormous flower.
Behind them was a crooked house, far too many windows and a red sun covering nearly half the page.
Silvia pointed to the smallest figure.
"Jhosep?"
"Yes."
Selene immediately pointed to the one with the flower.
"And that's me."
"I guessed."
"We're all here."
Silvia looked over the drawing.
Johana.
Liora.
Manuel.
Jhosep.
Selene.
Together.
"It's lovely."
"It's so Nii knows I'm waiting for him."
Selene stopped smiling.
"And so he doesn't think I don't want to play with him anymore."
Silvia folded the paper exactly along the existing creases.
"I'll give it to him."
"Don't lose it."
"I won't."
"And tell him about the flower."
Silvia glanced toward the flower bed.
"That it's sick."
"Yes."
"I'll tell him."
Selene was quiet.
Then she asked,
"Are you bringing him back?"
Silvia took a moment.
"Not today."
Selene lowered her head.
"Everyone always says not today."
Silvia knelt in front of her.
"I know."
"Then when?"
"I can't tell you that yet."
Selene made a face.
Silvia did not try to convince her that the answer was enough.
It was not.
"But today I can see him," she said. "I can give him your drawing and tell him you're waiting for him."
Selene looked at her.
"Will you hug him?"
"If he wants me to."
"A big one."
"A big one."
"But not too tight."
Silvia laughed softly.
"Understood."
Selene wrapped her arms around her neck.
"Tell him to come back fast."
Silvia closed her eyes for a moment.
"I'll tell him you're waiting."
It was not the same thing.
But it was true.
•••
The vehicle left the residence soon after.
Silvia sat in the back with her handbag and a closed folder.
Another car followed with the two men Manuel had assigned.
They wore no uniforms or visible insignia.
Exactly as she had requested.
Selene's drawing was protected between two thick sheets of paper.
As they approached Guatavita, the landscape changed.
The road climbed.
The air cooled.
Mist gathered among the trees.
Silvia watched through the window.
She had not visited the Unit in some time.
She knew the reports.
The resources.
The security levels.
The improvements made under Lauren's administration.
None of that was new.
What was different was knowing Jhosep was inside.
Her three-year-old grandson.
Inside an institution designed to prepare people for dangers he should not yet need to understand.
The vehicle slowed at the first checkpoint.
The guards checked their credentials.
One of them recognized Silvia's identification.
"Mrs. Silvia."
"Good morning."
"The director has been informed of your arrival."
The barrier rose.
Silvia studied the road ahead.
There was visible security.
Cameras.
Guards.
Checkpoints.
And less visible security.
Mana sensors.
Seals carved into stone.
Routes designed to force every visitor through controlled points.
The Unit did not look like a prison.
The gardens were maintained.
The buildings combined stone, dark wood and broad windows.
Young people crossed the courtyards.
Others trained.
There was movement.
Life.
But there was control too.
A great deal of it.
The vehicle stopped in front of the main building.
Lauren was waiting.
She wore a perfectly tailored dark suit, her hair pulled back neatly.
Two senior officers and an administrative employee stood with her.
Lauren's expression was courteous.
Professional.
"Mother."
"Lauren."
"You're earlier than I expected."
"That's why I warned you."
Lauren released a nearly imperceptible breath.
"You warned me less than two hours ago."
"And yet you had time to meet me."
One of the officers looked away.
Lauren said nothing.
She allowed Silvia to kiss her briefly on the cheek.
"I hope the journey was comfortable."
"It was."
Then the back of the vehicle opened.
The driver unloaded one suitcase.
Then another.
Then a smaller third piece.
Lauren looked at the luggage.
Then at Silvia.
"What are the suitcases for?"
Silvia looked at them too.
"The same thing suitcases are usually for, daughter."
The administrator lowered her head.
The officers remained still.
Lauren maintained her institutional smile.
"I thought your visit would be brief."
"I never said that."
"You never said otherwise."
"Now you know."
Lauren's jaw tightened slightly.
She would not argue in front of staff.
"Take my mother's luggage to the private reception room," she ordered.
"Yes, Director."
"Carefully," Silvia added.
Lauren looked at her.
Silvia smiled.
"They're my things."
"Come with me," Lauren said. "We'll talk in my office."
"Perfect."
They walked through the lobby together.
Only when the office door closed did Lauren abandon the courtesy.
"What are you doing?"
Silvia looked around before answering.
The office was large.
Severe.
Ordered to excess.
A pen aligned with a folder.
A clock.
Nothing personal.
Very Lauren.
"Visiting my daughter."
"You brought three suitcases."
"So it would seem."
"Mother."
Silvia sat down.
Lauren remained standing.
"We don't have rooms available for a long stay."
"The family room still exists."
"It's out of service."
"Then you have plenty of time to put it back into service."
Lauren placed both hands on the desk.
"You can't appear here and reorganize an institution because you decided to stay."
Silvia calmly opened her handbag and removed a folder.
"I don't need to reorganize the Unit."
She placed a document on the desk.
"Pedro notified administration before I arrived."
Lauren's expression changed.
Slightly.
But it changed.
"The room will be prepared," Silvia continued. "I'm not requesting it."
Lauren picked up the document and skimmed the first lines.
"Then this was already decided."
"Yes."
"Without consulting me."
"Management was notified."
"I am management."
"And now you've been personally informed."
Lauren held her gaze.
Silvia did not smile.
She did not need to.
"How long?"
"Two weeks."
Lauren went still.
Silvia added,
"Perhaps three."
"That isn't a visit."
"Then stop calling it one."
The answer settled between them.
Lauren moved around the desk and sat.
"This place is under my authority."
"I'm not questioning that."
"Your presence for three weeks affects operations."
"I'm not going to run your Unit, Lauren."
Silvia folded her hands.
"I'll use a room. I'll conduct a general review while I'm here. And I'll visit my family."
Lauren understood.
"You came for the boy."
"Jhosep."
Lauren looked at her.
"You know who I mean."
"And you know his name."
"Don't start."
"I haven't started anything."
Silvia held her gaze.
"I only asked you to use his name."
Lauren looked away toward the document.
"Your interest in him needs to be discreet."
"It will be."
"To almost everyone here, he is a minor admitted under special authorization."
"I know."
"No one needs to connect him to Manuel."
"I know that too."
Lauren looked back at her.
"Then you understand why you can't behave like his grandmother in the middle of a corridor."
"Lauren, I've been protecting family secrets longer than you've been running this Unit."
The sentence was not aggressive.
That gave it more weight.
Lauren leaned back.
"Jhosep has a routine."
"That's fine."
"Marta is with him."
Silvia waited.
Lauren continued.
"He's finishing one of his activities in his room."
"Then I'll wait."
The answer seemed to surprise her.
"You'll wait?"
"I'm not going to walk into the middle of a lesson."
Silvia put away the folder.
"When he finishes, I want to see him."
Lauren relaxed by a fraction.
"I'll have Marta come for you."
"That's enough."
Neither spoke for several seconds.
Then Lauren added,
"I don't want him told you're here too early."
Silvia frowned slightly.
"Why?"
"He may think you came to take him home."
That was reasonable.
Silvia did not deny it.
"I won't promise him that."
"Good."
"But I'm also not going to pretend I came here only to have coffee with you."
"No one asked you to."
"I'm glad."
Lauren exhaled.
"Sofía is assigned to stay with him. Marta handles most of the rest. He is adapting."
Silvia watched her.
"Sofía is twelve."
"I know."
"Then don't turn her into a substitute for family."
"I'm not."
"Good."
Silvia stood.
Lauren did too.
"I'll wait for his lesson to end," Silvia said. "Then I want to see him."
"You will."
"Thank you."
Lauren narrowed her eyes.
"That didn't sound like gratitude."
"Because it wasn't."
For the first time, Lauren seemed close to replying with something that did not belong in an institutional conversation.
She stopped herself.
Silvia picked up her bag.
"I will not compromise Jhosep's secrecy. I will not interfere with your classes or training."
She walked toward the door.
"But for the next few weeks, I will be here."
Lauren watched in silence.
"Get used to it."
Silvia opened the door.
•••
I stare at the card Doña Marta is holding in front of me.
A large A.
A tree underneath it.
"A," she says.
"A."
"For árbol."
"Árbol."
She smiles.
Then comes E.
Elefante.
Then I.
Iglesia.
O.
Oso.
U.
Uva.
The vowels.
Again.
Doña Marta does not teach badly.
That is not the problem.
The problem is that I already know this.
I can read.
Not as comfortably as before. Small letters tire my eyes, and some long words still make me bring the book closer.
But I can do it.
I can write too.
In theory.
My hand has a different opinion.
I could tell Marta I already know the vowels.
I do not.
I do not want questions.
And, honestly, if repeating five letters gets the lesson over with faster, it is hardly the worst problem I have.
"Which one is this?" she asks.
The I.
I wait a little.
"The… i."
"Very good."
She looks pleased.
That helps.
When someone likes an answer, they usually do not ask too much afterward.
"And a word beginning with i?"
I look at the picture.
"Iglesia."
"Exactly."
She briefly strokes my hair.
I do not move away.
I do not dislike Marta.
She talks too much.
Repeats things.
And she still insists on songs I have no intention of singing if I can avoid it.
But she never raises her voice.
That matters.
More than it probably should.
After the cards comes writing.
Marta places a worksheet of dotted vowels in front of me.
"Let's start with a."
I take the pencil.
"Gently," she reminds me. "You don't need to squeeze it so hard."
I loosen my fingers.
I trace the first line.
It comes out crooked.
I frown.
"It's fine."
No.
It is not.
The letter looks like it lost a fight.
But I keep going.
The e comes out better.
The i is easy.
The o turns crooked again.
By the time I reach the u, my fingers hurt.
Marta notices.
"We can stop."
"No."
It comes out too quickly.
I look up.
So does she.
"I want to finish."
"All right. Slowly."
I nod.
I finish.
When I put down the pencil, I open and close my hand beneath the table.
Marta draws stars on the sheet.
At the top she writes:
Excellent work.
That is an exaggeration.
"That's enough for today."
She puts away the cards.
I look toward the shelf.
"Can I read?"
"Yes. I'm going out for a moment."
"Okay."
Sofía is not here.
After breakfast she went to spend time with her brother.
She said she would be back before lunch.
That could mean before lunch.
Or after.
With Sofía, it is difficult to know.
Marta gathers the pencils.
"Stay here, all right?"
I nod.
"Don't go into the hall."
"Okay."
"I'll be right back. I'm going to get someone."
Probably Sofía.
Marta leaves.
I put away my worksheet and pick one of the books.
The rabbit one.
Again.
I already know how it ends.
The rabbit leaves the path.
Follows glowing stones.
Gets lost.
An impressive sequence of decisions.
I sit on the bed and begin reading.
A few minutes later, I hear footsteps.
I recognize Marta's.
The other pair is slower than Sofía's.
I do not think much of it.
The door opens.
"Jhosep, someone came to see you."
I finish the line.
Then I look up.
Marta comes in first.
Then steps aside.
The woman behind her has pale hair, travel clothes and a handbag in her hands.
I recognize her.
My grandmother.
She remains near the doorway.
She does not approach.
Does not open her arms.
She simply looks at me.
I keep the book on my lap.
I was not expecting to see her here.
I do not know what I am supposed to do.
"Hello, my little one," she says.
Her voice is familiar.
Too familiar.
"Hello."
My grandmother's smile shifts slightly.
Marta looks between us.
"I'll leave you two to talk."
"Thank you, Marta."
The door remains slightly open.
My grandmother stays near the entrance.
I look at her bag.
Then at her.
"Grandma?"
"Yes, son."
She takes one step inside.
"I came to see you."
I tighten my fingers slightly around the book.
And for a few seconds, I do not know what to do with those words.