Yeny and the Children for Peace Read Online Free PDF Page B

fruit stalls would be so crowded that shoppers would hardly be able to move, everyone shouting and trying to get the best deal.) Other times Papágot paid to help clean a store or paint a building. Once he got a whole handful of coins just for helping a lady carry her groceries to the car.
    But Yeny hoped that this Saturday he would take a break. “I know you don’t want me to go to the big peace meetings, Papá,” she said, “but now there’s a smaller meeting to plan a Peace Carnival on the soccer field. A few kids are getting together on Saturday for that. So I was wondering if I could go, and you could come along to see that it’s not dangerous at all.”
    Papá frowned. Mamá stopped feeding Carlitos his mashed-up rice, and turned to Yeny. “A Peace Carnival sounds just as dangerous as the peace meetings, Yeny,” she said.
    â€œBut I don’t think it
is
dangerous,” said Yeny. “And besides, the meeting on Saturday is only a little one. It’s a few kids trying to get the word out about the party, so children in the neighborhood get to know each other and become friends.”
    Aunt Nelly arrived at the table with a plate full of plantain. No one spoke. Every one of the children, and Yeny’s parents, were looking at Yeny.
    She took a deep breath. She’d have to be careful about how she said the next part. It could work well, or it could scare her parents even more. She hesitated for a moment but then decided to hurry up and get it over with. “The party is important, because there are lots of kids who don’t like each other, even thoughthey hardly know each other.” At once she remembered her terrible dream, and before she knew it, she was telling them about Joaquin. “He’s so mean, and since I’m new, he’s picking on me the most. And if I don’t meet some new people fast, Joaquin might turn everyone against me, and I won’t have any friends at all,”
    Papá put down his coffee and pulled Yeny close. “Why didn’t you tell us about this Joaquin sooner?” he asked.
    Aunt Nelly pulled out an empty chair. Yeny flopped into it. “I didn’t want to give you another thing to worry about,” she said. “And I thought I could handle it on my own.”
    â€œShe’s doing a pretty good job,” said Juan, “but Joaquin’s scary. He’s tall, and yesterday he was throwing rocks at us on the way home from school.”
    Elena, Rosa, and Sylvia stared. Carlitos banged his spoon on the table. Yeny blushed, suddenly feeling like a baby herself for tattling like this. She didn’t want to be a sapo, a big mouth. She’d only mentioned Joaquin so that her parents would let her go to the meetings and the party.
    â€œYou weren’t hurt, were you?” Aunt Nelly asked.
    Juan and Yeny shook their heads. Her parents and aunt gave each other one of those adult looks that she couldn’t always read, and her father cleared his throat. “I think you’re right, Yeny,” he said. “This party does sound important, and I think it would begood for you to be involved in the planning and to meet other kids. I still don’t like the idea of you going to a big party here in the city, but I’ll go with you on Saturday for your planning meeting. There’s a little café across from the soccer field and I can go there for a coffee and meet some new people myself. If you need me, I’ll be close by.”
    Yeny flung her arms around his neck, almost knocking her chair over. Maybe her brave, happy father
would
come back to her eventually. Maybe it was only a matter of time.

CHAPTER 5
First the Soccer Field, Then . . . Colombia!
    Yeny, Juan, and Papá made a happy trio on their way to the Saturday morning meeting. Elena and Rosa and Sylvia had wanted to come too, but Papá had said that two young people were enough for him to keep an eye on for one day. If