Dark Shimmer Read Free Page B

to me. Loudly. Drown out my thoughts.
    A couple of weeks ago, on the tenth of August, we celebrated the feast of San Lorenzo. The people here love him best of all the saints. Hundreds of years ago, some Roman prefect demanded that San Lorenzo give the church’s riches to him. So San Lorenzo brought the poor, the lame, the blind, and the afflicted before that prefect, declaring these were the true riches. He was killed, of course—all saints die horribly, it seems to me. Everyone here loves to tell his story.
    I would scream right now if Mamma weren’t asleep. They’re all a bunch of liars. They praise San Lorenzo when they don’t agree with him at all. They don’t value the afflicted. They hate the afflicted. They hate me.
    And even though Mella cried so hard, she let Druda take her baby.
    The quiet, familiar sound comes: a boat slides past along the canal. I run out to see who it is. I race beside the canal to the end and stare at the boat till its lamp is out of sight.
    Slow footsteps come up behind me. But I know whose they are. I don’t turn around.
    “Dolce?” says Mamma. She touches my hand. “What are you doing out here?”
    “Watching.”
    “Watching the lagoon? Bad things happen in the lagoon at night. Come back home.”
    “Where are they going, Mamma?”
    “Who?”
    “A boat passed.”
    “Oh. That.” She comes to stand beside me. “The big city.”
    “At night?”
    “Mmm.”
    “How come?”
    “They’re taking Mella’s baby there.”
    My teeth clench so hard my ears hurt. “Why?”
    “For adoption. He’ll be better off there.”
    “Why?” My voice gets loud, but I don’t care. “They’re hateful in the city.”
    “It’s Mella and Lorenzo’s decision. It’s their baby. Dolce, come back inside. Come to sleep.” She takes my hand and pulls me behind her.
    I give up. My arms ache from emptiness. I should be holding something. I can’t think what, though. I stumble through the dark, fall onto the bed, roll so my back is to the open window, plug my ears with my fingers, and shut my eyes firmly. I am cut off from everything.
    Except my thoughts.
    All babies have big heads and short arms. But Mella’s baby wasn’t like other babies. Head smaller. Arms longer. Eyes…I don’t know how to describe them…just different. Even his hands were different, with skinny fingers that scrabbled the air, all equally separated. Oh, Lord. Mella’s baby is like me. He’s a monster.
    A monster wouldn’t be adopted by anyone. And the lagoon is all around us.
    Bad things happen in the lagoon at night.
    I will never let anyone rip my babies from my arms.
    I will never have babies.

“ I know you’re following me.” Giordano looks ahead as he speaks, but for sure he’s talking to me. He carries a bucket in each hand.
    I stay behind him and let him think he’s clever for noticing me. Inside my head I laugh at him for not noticing Gato Zalo, who tracks us both at a distance. Giordano would shout and chase the cat off if he saw him. He’d try to kill him. Everyone says our island is best without predators.
    It’s not fair. I don’t know how Gato Zalo wound up here, but he’s got as much right to be here as anyone else. As soon as I can, I’m going to leave him a treat.
    I dare to look back at my cat friend. He’s gone, as though smeared to nothing in the damp air. I’m bereft.
    This moment feels thin, like being alive but not quite. Most of the island is still asleep; usually the fishermen go to work right about now, but the tide is out, so it’s too shallow for the boats this morning. Giordano is the first soul I’ve spied. Exactly the one I hoped to find.
    “Come on up here and walk with me.”
    I run to his side.
    “If you don’t speak, not a single word, you can help me.”
    Why would I want to help him? My goal is for him to help me.
    We move through the soft gray air as though floating in a memory. We’re heading south. I keep my eyes down so I’m not tempted to look across the