The Red Umbrella

High school, I had come to realize, did not revolve around the usual four seasons on the calendar. Instead, it was divided into football, basketball, and baseball seasons. It being February, we were in the middle of basketball season.

“My mom can swing by your house at around five-thirty to take us to the game. Is that good for you?” Jennifer asked.

I twirled the twisted phone cord in one hand. “Mmm-hmm. Guess so,” I answered, cradling the receiver between my ear and shoulder. I really wasn’t in the mood to do much of anything at that moment. Just before Jennifer called, I’d been rereading one of Papá’s recent letters. In it he had described how happy he was to finally be leaving the hospital after undergoing his third and, hopefully, final surgery, but he also mentioned how it pained him to go back home. He said Cuba was a changed place, one that I would no longer recognize, nor want to see. A sadness seeped through his words and made its way straight into my heart.

Yet I couldn’t help thinking how wrong he was. I still wanted to see Cuba, no matter what it was like. As much as I appreciated everything the Baxters, Jennifer, and the U.S. did for me and Frankie, I missed my home.

“You don’t sound too happy about going tonight. Did Eddie say something again? I thought he got the message that you weren’t really interested in him.”

“No.” I untangled the phone cord. “I was just missing being home. And as for Eddie, I don’t know anymore. He is nice.”

“Wait. Are you saying what I think you’re saying? That you like Eddie? The boy who has had a crush on you from the first day of school, and who you’ve basically ignored all this time?” I could hear the excitement in Jennifer’s voice.

I started to blush. “He’s just so sweet and funny.”

“Uh-huh … a-a-a-and?”

“And nothing. Eddie and I are just friends. Plus, neither you or I can date until we’re sixteen, remember?”

“But would you date him in November?”

“I don’t know.” I giggled.

“Ooh, this is so good!” she squealed. “Does Eddie suspect that you like him?”

“NO! I’m not sure what I feel. Besides, I’d die if he found out, so don’t say anything.”

Jennifer laughed. “You know I wouldn’t. But how great it would be if you and I could double-date next year! You with Eddie, and me with Nathan. They’re best friends and we’re best friends!”

“I thought you said Nathan Dixon was a moron?”

“But he’s a very cute moron!”

I laughed. Jennifer had a way of always making me feel better.

As soon as I hung up the phone, Frankie appeared from around the corner.

I crossed my arms and gave him my best stare-down face. “Were you eavesdropping?”

“Me? I wouldn’t do that.” He sauntered around me like a cat ready to pounce.

“Frankie?”

“What? You think I might say something about you … being in lo-o-o-ove?”

“Frankie!” I reached out to grab him, but he laughed, stepping aside while making smooching noises.

He started running through the house. “Lucía and Eddie, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I—”

“STOP!” I caught him, clasping my hand over his mouth before he finished the rhyme.

“Frankie! Leave your sister alone,” Mrs. Baxter called out from the kitchen.

I looked him straight in the eye. “Francisco Álvarez, if you breathe a word of this to anyone, I promise that I’ll tell all your friends that you still sleep with a teddy bear by your pillow.”

“I only do that because Mamá and Papá gave it to me. It’s not like I’m a baby or something.”

“So what? Do you want me to tell your friends or not?”

He looked down at the floor. “No.”

“So, nos entendemos?”

Frankie rolled his eyes at me. “Yeah, we’ve got an understanding.”

As he walked away, Frankie shook his head. “Man, Lucía, I liked it more when you were a pushover.”