Guardian of the Fountain Read Free Page A

got so tired of my life, all the unnecessary drama. If you don’t
go clubbing every weekend on the arm of a Guido, you’re a nobody. Someone’s always
feuding with someone else.” A puff of smoke escaped her lips. “Then I got my ma
riding me all the time. ‘Marla Sophia DePandi, your eggs are going to dry up
any day. When are you gonna give your mamma some grandchildren?’ And I’d yell
back, ‘As soon as I can find a classy man, not some chauvinistic Guido.’ I’m
not going to stay at home, cook, clean, and pop out babies every year for my
man.” Marla tapped the ashes from her cigarette into an ashtray near her chair.
“I’m a career woman. I want a fancy apartment and a real man. Someone who has
his crap together.”
           “I’d settle
for a man without an STD.” Chrissie laughed.
           “No way! He
had an STD? Did you get trich?” Marla sat up in her chair and pulled off her
sunglasses, surprised.
           “You mean
the foul smelling trichomoniasis?”
           “Yeah,
whatevs’. What you said.”
           “No, but
his new girlfriend did.” Chrissie’s laugh escaped her lips. This trip to the
rooftop was doing wonders for the soul—good girl talk, relaxing in the
sun, and a stress-relieving laugh. “That’s one of the reasons he cheated … I’m
a virgin.”
           “No kidding?
I gotta give you props, girl. I wish I had that kind of self-control. The nun
life isn’t for me.” Marla resumed her position behind her sunglasses.
           “Yeah, I
might be a bit old-fashioned, but I just don’t want to give something so
private to just anybody. If I did, I would feel like I was being used.”
Chrissie turned over onto her stomach and let the sun warm her back.
           “Isn’t that
true? It’s a mutual using and throwing away, isn’t it? I hadn’t thought about
it that way. Maybe there is something to this celibacy thing.”
           “Oh, I don’t
want to be celibate forever. I’m going to wait for marriage. Not with any man …
my man.”
                   “Chrissie,
my grandmother would say you are an old soul. I think I’ll keep you around,
maybe you can be the one to steer me in the right direction.”
          

 
 
    Chapter
2

 
 
 
           Brant
wanted to throw the broken-down air-conditioning unit off the roof. It was the
third time this month he’d been up here to fix it for Señora Cruz. He couldn’t
see the eighty-year-old woman fixing it herself, and she could only pay him in
menudo. Not that he needed the money, but he’d rather just buy her a new unit.
She refused every time he offered, saying, “Why buy something new when the old
can be fixed?”
           Out of the
corner of his eye, he saw blonde hair blowing in the breeze. His eyes focused
in on two girls sunbathing on the rooftop two buildings over. One reminded him
of his girlfriend, Valencia. The other looked like a sleeping angel with a halo
of brilliant blonde hair. The fair-skinned beauty, which was a rare sight
around these parts, intrigued him.
           The
realization that he was staring made him divert his eyes back to the task at
hand. Besides, he needed to finish the job so he could be in Caracas by evening
for his dinner date. He wondered if the hour-long drive and an evening alone with
Valencia were really worth it. Most days, it seemed like work to make her
happy. It probably wasn’t.
           He
reattached the metal grate to the unit and climbed down the ladder. Tomorrow,
he would call for a new unit to be put on Señora Cruz’s house in the morning
while she was gone to Mass. She wouldn’t know the difference, but he would. He
would save his visits for menudo only and leave the rooftop visits in the past.
           On the way
to Caracas, his mind continually revisited the sleeping angel and wondered what
had brought her here to the village. He recognized the other woman as one