The Only Road Read Free Page B

work deals like that; they always got what they wanted. He knew it, the whole village knew it, and there was nothing he could do about it. He never felt so helpless. And guilty.
    â€œYou’ll have to pay them, of course,” Abuela said as she whacked a ball of corn masa against the counter like she was killing an insect. “Buy the children’s safety—”
    â€œ ¡No! ” Tío Daniel got to his feet. For a second it looked like he would attack someone, but then he sat back down, the bald patch on his head shiny with sweat. In a low growl he continued, “I refuse to pay the scum who killed my son. It’d be like a reward. No, we’ll keepÁngela and Jaime safe some other way.”
    Ãngela raised her eyes from the floor. Jaime could feel her gaze on him as if she were analyzing the possibilities. He almost let out a sigh of relief. She knew what to do; she would take care of things.
    â€œWe could run away.” They were the first words she’d spoken in two days. Everyone’s eyes turned to Ángela, as if she had said a bad word. Abuela slapped the masa on the counter again. Padre Lorenzo opened his mouth to say something and finished it off as a silent prayer instead. Baby Quico, who was draped over Rosita’s shoulder, let out a loud burp.
    Papá shifted and all eyes turned on him. He licked his lips before taking a deep breath. “That might be the best solution.”
    Jaime imagined himself living in the rainforest, swinging through the trees like Tarzan, a pet jaguar as his watchdog, surviving off bananas and insects. For a moment he got lost in that world—the hundreds of shades of green, the wildlife camouflaged within those greens—it’d be fun. For a day.
    â€œWhat do you mean?” Mamá whispered.
    Papá cleared his throat. “They can go live with Tomás.”

CHAPTER THREE

    â€œ ¡No! ” Mamá shouted so loudly the baby started crying. She ran to Jaime and Ángela and hugged them tight. “It’s too dangerous. Think of something else.”
    â€œWe’ve thought of everything.” Papá hid his face in his hands. “It’s the only way.”
    Jaime could barely breathe, and not just because Mamá was squeezing him so hard. The daydream of living in the rainforest suddenly seemed like a vacation. She was right, going to Tomás was too dangerous. Everyone knew the stories. Gangs robbed you at every turn. Immigration officers beat you up before sending you back home—that had happened to a few people in the village. The papá of one of Jaime’s classmates had lost an arm boarding a moving train. Jaime could think of two other people from thevillage who had tried to make the journey and were never heard from again. They were assumed dead. Rosita’s best friend, the beautiful Marcela, who Jaime and Miguel used to argue over who would get to marry, had been abducted near the border of los Estados Unidos. Whispers among the grown-ups claimed she had been sold as a slave. She was still missing.
    And all of this was just going through México. Then there was crossing the border into los Estados Unidos.
    But hardest of all was the idea of leaving home to live with Tomás.
    Tomás, his older brother. Memories of him ranged from hazy to facts based on others’ stories. The one time his family went to the beach and Tomás pointed out the colors of the stormy sunset reflected on the water, Jaime knew was a real memory. Every time he witnessed a spectacular sunset, with the reds burning into the cool greens and blues, he thought of Tomás and wondered if Tomás could see it too. That sunset would forever stay in Jaime’s mind, but Tomás’s face had blurred to the poor-quality image the village computer showed during their rare video Skype calls.
    â€œHow’s my little brother?” Tomás always asked when they talked.
    Jaime never knew what to say and