The Velvet Room Read Online Free PDF

halfway home through the orchard that she remembered about the rip in her dress. She couldn’t recall whether she’d kept her arm over it all that time at Bridget’s. But it didn’t seem to matter very much.

What It Means  to Be a Wanter

    W HEN ROBIN CAME OUT OF THE ORCHARD onto the dirt road of the Village, she met the girl with the black braids again. The Mexican girl was hanging up clothes on a line behind the last cabin in the row. When she saw Robin, she put down the pail and smiled.
    “ Allo,” she said, “I’m Theresa. You wan of thee new keeds from cabin tree?” Robin nodded. “I see your two seesters, while ago. You got lots of seesters?” Theresa’s English was easily understood, but it rose and fell with a Latin lilt; the rs slurred and the e’s sang.
    “No,” Robin said. “I just have those two sisters, and two brothers.”
    Theresa examined Robin frankly. “You don’t look like your seesters,” she said.
    “I look like my mother,” Robin said. “She’s dark like I am. The other kids look more like my dad.”
    Theresa nodded. “Anyway, eet’s lucky for you, you got two seesters.” She smiled ruefully. “Me, I got seex lazee brothers.” She motioned to the long line of blue denim overalls she’d been hanging. “My brothers!” She nodded her head toward the closest pair, a rather small one with ragged knees. “Thees wan is Francisco, and Juan and Julio and thees leetle tiny wan is Lupe (he’s pretty cute) and Carlo, and,” she stopped and made a face, “that beeg sloppy wan on the end is Jose, my beegest brother.”
    Robin laughed and curtsied to the line of overalls. “How do you do,” she said. “I’m Robin Williams.”
    Theresa grinned approvingly, but then very suddenly her expression changed. “Where you been? You been gone a long time.”
    “I went for a walk,” Robin said, “through the orchard.” It was true as far as it went, anyway.
    “ You better be careful,” Theresa said ominously. She pointed toward the hills in the direction of the stone house. “You go for a walk over that way and maybe you never come back.”
    “What do you mean?” Robin asked. “Why wouldn’t I come back? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    Just then the screen door of Theresa’s cabin banged wide open and hung lopsidedly against the wall, trailing pieces of torn screening. A large dark woman appeared on the step.
    “ Theresa,” she called, “ ven aquí. Te necesito.’” The woman was fat and her face looked tired, but her voice was low and musical.
    “ Vengo, Mama,” Theresa answered. But as she started for the house, she turned back to Robin. “I got to go now. But you better stay away from that old Palmeras House. Eet’s a bad place. And right behind eet there ees a lee tie house where the bruja leeves.” A fat dark-haired baby boy had started down the steps of the cabin, and Theresa swung him up in her arms as she went up the stairs. In the doorway she turned and waved.
    A bruja! What on earth was she talking about? Well anyway, Robin decided, it would take more than a bruja to keep her away from Palmeras House, whatever a bruja might be.
    When Robin got back to the Williamses’ cabin, Dad was just arriving from the opposite direction. He had walked over from the mule barns. He looked pale and tired, and he smelled of mules. The pallor of his face made the freckles stand out even more than usual. But he was feeling happy, because when he saw Robin he said, “Hi there, Big Enough,” and put his arm across her shoulders. They walked up the steps together.
    The rest of the family was just finishing lunch, which was just as well since there were only four chairs. Robin poured some water from the teakettle into the washbasin. It was warm, so Rudy must have found a way to mend the stove. Together, Dad and Robin washed up for lunch.
    The chipped enamel washbasin was dark blue with white speckles. It sat on a heavy wooden table against the wall. The table