The Amazing Mexican Secret Read Free Page B

stop just steps from La Abuela’s house. It’s not fair.” He kicked a step hard with his toe.
    â€œStanley,” Carmen said. “How did you become flat?”
    â€œThe bulletin board over my bed squashed me in the middle of the night,” Stanley grumbled.
    â€œWas that fair?” said Carmen.
    â€œNo.” Stanley shook his head. “It wasn’t fair at all. People make fun of me. They stare at me. Sometimes I wish it had been my brother, Arthur.”
    Carmen nodded thoughtfully. Together, they climbed the last step. Stanley took a moment to straightenhimself and flatten his hair before stepping inside to meet La Abuela.
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    â€œHello?” Stanley called, leaning through the archway. “ ¿Hola? La Abuela?”
    His voice echoed from one end of the building to the other. It was empty. There wasn’t even any furniture.
    â€œWhere is she?” Stanley said.
    Carmen walked across the floor. She turned to face Stanley, her silhouette framed by an archway identical to the one they had entered.
    â€œWhen I was your age,” Carmen said, “only boys were matadors. Even then, I knew I wanted to fight bulls. I cried very much, because it was not fair. Itwas not fair that I was a girl. It was not fair that I had this body.
    â€œBut then, someone very wise told me a secret. And now I will tell that secret to you: It is not what you have that matters,” said Carmen. “It is what you do with it.”
    She beckoned for Stanley to come and look.
    Stanley gasped. There were no steps down the other side of the pyramid. In fact, there was no other side to the pyramid at all. There was only a cliff that dropped from this side of the building like a huge wall, all the way down to a blue pool of water far, far below.
    The green of the jungle made a blanket over the land. Stanley felt as if he could see for miles.
    â€œSo where does La Abuela live?” he said.
    â€œI don’t know,” said Carmen.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œNo one has ever been able to go beyond this point to find her. I know only that the water leads to her.”
    â€œBut how are we supposed to get down to the water?”
    â€œWe are not,” said Carmen. “You are.”
    Stanley was speechless.
    Carmen’s dark eyes twinkled. “Whatare you going to do with what you have, Stanley?”
    Stanley peered over the edge. He could not float down like a kite, because there was no wind. And this was nothing like Niagara Falls, which had been an accident, in any case.
    In a flash, Stanley knew what he had to do.
    He took several big steps back.
    â€œ Buena suerte ,” Carmen whispered. “Good luck.”
    He took three deep breaths.
    And then he ran and dived over the edge.

 
6
La Abuela
    Stanley had seen Olympic divers on television: their bodies perfectly straight, their hands like arrows piercing the water. Stanley made himself as flat as he could. The wind rushed around his ears. The side of the cliff blurred before his eyes.
    He barely made a splash.
    Stanley shot toward the bottom ofthe water like a bullet. Suddenly, he noticed an underwater cave to his left, swarming with fish. He went for it.
    Inside, Stanley knew he couldn’t hold his breath much longer. His hands broke the surface and hit the cave’s rocky ceiling.
    There wasn’t nearly enough space for his head.
    How am I going to breathe?! he thought in a panic.
    Then he remembered Carmen’s voice: What are you going to do with what you have?
    Stanley swung himself into a back float. His flat body barely rose above the surface. The ceiling of the cave wasinches from his nose.
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    He gulped the air hungrily.
    A current began pulling him along. It started gently and then got faster. Soon, Stanley felt like he was riding a water slide—except it was pitch-dark, and all the sides were covered with sharp rocks.
    The current rose to a roar. He swung into the wall and scraped