Flight to the Lonesome Place Read Online Free PDF Page A

“Maybe I did have. But you sound as if you don’t really believe in any of the things I got from her.”
    Ronnie shook his head. “Don’t get me wrong. It’s just that, well, you sort of lost me when you started talking about magic.”
    â€œBut I thought you understood! Back at the Regency you—you said you knew all about magic, and couldn’t get along without it!” She looked at him accusingly. “Boy Blue, did you tell me a deliberate lie?”
    â€œNot exactly. I mean, I didn’t intend to lie, but you caught me in front of an audience, and I had to say something, fast.” He ran his tongue over suddenly dry lips, wondering what to tell her. Secretly he thought most of the so-called magic was for the birds, and that Ana María Rosalita, with her talk of hechiceras , trouble signs, and the rest, was just being silly and foolish. Still, she had known he was in danger …
    â€œPlease,” he begged. “I—I’m not really as smart as people think. It’s mainly my memory. And of course I have to bluff a lot, and pretend to know when I don’t. But the truth is I—I don’t know anything at all about magic.”
    â€œOh.” She just looked at him. The way she did it made him feel very small, almost as if he were shrinking.
    â€œBut I don’t see why I can’t learn,” he offered hurriedly. “And we might need each other’s help. After all, we’re sure in the same boat together.”
    Suddenly she giggled. “We are in the same boat, aren’t we?” Then she added gravely, “And naturally there’s a reason for it.”
    â€œHow do you figure that?”
    â€œOh, there’s a reason for everything. You were sent here for a reason, Boy Blue.”
    â€œNo one sent me. I came to save my neck.”
    â€œOf course you came to save your neck, silly! But you were sent here just the same. And maybe the reason is that we both need help, and are supposed to help each other.”
    â€œOh, I’ll go along with it,” he said quickly. “When you’re as young as we are, and something happens, you’re in real trouble if you’re all alone. I found that out tonight.”
    â€œWhat happened, Boy Blue?”
    â€œIt’s, well, sort of involved. Let’s talk about you first. What are you afraid of? The Señora?”
    Her small face tightened, and she nodded slowly. “The Señora is part of it, yes. That is the main reason I came in here. I am afraid to be in the same room with her at times. And then, I don’t want to go back to Santo Domingo. It’s an awful place.”
    â€œBut isn’t your home there?”
    â€œNot any more. Not since Papa died.” Her chin trembled momentarily, then she said, “Papa was very rich, and a lot of people hated him, but he was all I had. Just before he died he brought me to New Orleans and put me in school, and I was supposed to stay there till I finished. But now Bernardo sends the Señora to take me out. Why? There is no reason to take me out. No good reason, I mean, that makes sense. There is no talk of putting me in another school. And Bernardo does not want me in his house. He lives in Puerto Rico now. So I will have nowhere to go unless the Señora takes me to her home—and she lives in Santo Domingo. Anything can happen there, and nobody cares.”
    She paused and looked up at him earnestly. “Now do you see how I feel?”
    He nodded. Suddenly he asked, “Where’s this boat going?”
    â€œTo Puerto Rico. It always stops at San Juan first, then goes around to Mayagüez. That’s near where Bernardo lives.”
    â€œWhat’s the next stop after Mayagüez?”
    â€œThere isn’t any. I mean, it comes straight back here to the mainland.”
    â€œOh.”
    Ronnie chewed worriedly on his lip. Puerto Rico wasn’t quite his choice for a destination.