Summer Dreams Read Free Page A

dissected. Pura had just decided to use another approach, circle the issue and come back to it. Sometimes, her grandmother's tenacious but circuitous probing exasperated her. Today, she welcomed it, feeling unsure of how she felt---about a lot of things.
    "I told you last night, they're fine. Mami y Papi are both looking forward to retirement ... unlike someone I know."
    "Pah." Pura dismissed Natalia's observation with a toss of her head. "It's different for them, they have each other."
    Natalia didn't need to ask what her grandmother meant. Pura had been devoted to her husband, Miguel, Natalia's grandfather. Years ago when he'd asked her to move to the city, she'd followed him without complaint. Even though it had meant leaving her family's farm, the remaining acreage of a once-great Spanish rancho , given to Pura's family by the king of Spain before New Mexico was part of the United States.
    Her grandparents had moved to the Dallas area, where there were more opportunities for a penniless carpenter. Natalia often wondered if her poor and uneducated grandfather had resented marrying Pura, who owned land. But it hadn't kept them from loving each other. Her abuela had adapted herself to city ways and even earned a degree at night, eventually becoming a teacher. When her husband died, she'd returned to her farm in New Mexico.
    Miguel had been the love of her life. She had never gotten over losing him.
    Natalia wondered if she would ever find a love like that.
    "Mami grows more frustrated with her students each year, too. She says they refuse to work. That they want everything spoon-fed to them." Was it any surprise that Natalia's passion was teaching? She came from two generations of teachers; it was almost a genetic trait.
    "It's all those gadgets," Pura repeated. "And your sister, Sonia, how is she?"
    "Sonia is ... Sonia. This is her third year in college, but she's barely a sophomore. Her sorority functions take precedence over classes."
    Natalia scooped up a handful of grain and spread it for the chickens, fighting down a pang of conscience. She was never certain if she was jealous of her younger sister or if she held her in contempt.
    They were so different. Natalia had been born serious-minded and scholarly. She'd always excelled at school, winning honors from the time she was in kindergarten. Sonia, on the other hand, was a social butterfly. Beautiful and gregarious, she filled the house with her friends and activities. School was her last priority.
    "She's been engaged over ten times with no result," Natalia added. "I've lost count. I don't know how Papi can retire if she stays a student forever. I don't know why he and Mami don't---"
    "Do what? Change her nature?"
    Natalia bit her lip. Pura's defense of her younger sister's flighty ways hurt. "What makes Sonia different from the students who drive us crazy? The ones who refuse to work? I thought you'd agree with me."
    Pura snorted. "I raised your mother with values, and she taught those same values to you and your sister. Sonia will settle down. It's just a matter of time. Some people need longer childhoods, that's all."
    "I hope you're right," Natalia murmured, her feelings still tender.
    After all, it was she who came every summer and visited. Sonia would come for a week and be dying of boredom, ready to return to Dallas in two days. But her grandmother didn't show favoritism between the two sisters or any of her other grandchildren, either. Natalia admired her impartiality, but sometimes, she almost wished her beloved abuela would favor her. It was wrong, but she couldn't help herself.
    "What about your engagement, Nieta?" Pura circled around, catching her off guard, despite Natalia knowing better.
    She opened her mouth and then closed it, not knowing how to start. Her grandmother put away the tins of grain and said, "We've finished with the chickens. Let's start breakfast. I'm starving."
    Natalia trailed after Pura, the basket of eggs looped over her arm. She idly