Chương 10: It's you!

"Breakfast is ready, conejito." Una knocked three times. No answer. There was a wrench in her chest, a loteria card fluttered at the back of her mind. He's gone. She banged harder.

"I'm not hungry," a small voice protested.

"Get up and get dressed. It's after eight. I have a surprise for you today." She could almost hear Robin's eyes pop open. Una smiled and set the unfamiliar meal on the kitchen table. All her life, she'd made variations on one of three breakfasts, enfrijoladas, huevos con chorizo, or sometimes torrijas on Easter or a birthday. Robin had no appetite for any of them. Earlier that week, Robin somehow choked on his scrambled eggs. Una had to rush over and thwack him on the back.

Afterward, she wept in the bathroom, muffling her sobs with a hand towel. She made a frantic call to Dr. Suarez and scratched down recipe notes on a yellow legal pad. This morning, Robin's plate had a scoop of cottage cheese, oatmeal with finely diced strawberries and a slice of toast soaked in milk. Robin emerged from his room at last and eyed the breakfast suspiciously. Una didn't care for it either, but it didn't matter. The boy had to eat.

"What's the surprise?" Robin asked.

"I'll tell you, as soon as you eat." Robin's mouth made a flat line. He knew better than to complain. They soldiered through the bland breakfast in silence. Una could remember the first time Robin came to live with her. He'd wolfed down everything she put in front of him and always asked for seconds. At the time, she'd worried he might eat her out of house and home. Now, he labored to finish a slice of milk toast. They both saved the cottage cheese for last. Enjoying this book?

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"You don't like it either?" Robin guessed.

"I like it just fine," Una lied. Robin laughed at her. The hollows under his eyes were darker, but his spirits had brightened at the prospect of a surprise. He began to clear the table and do the dishes.

"I can do that, if you don't feel up to it."

"I can do it," Robin grabbed the plates away. He hated to be babied. For the ten thousandth time, Una wondered who his father was and what he was like. That pride hadn't come from his mother. Not once in her life had Lucinda ever done dishes without grumbling.

"I'll get the surprise," Una said. Again, she had his full attention. She creaked out to the car, feeling the weather shift in her hip. There was a smell of rain on the wind, a welcome relief from the heat. She returned with a cardboard box. It was heavy and thunked against the kitchen table as she set it down.

"What's this?" Robin asked.

"It's you!" Una opened the box and produced a small ceramic bird. Robin squinted at the clay robin. There were many kinds of birds in the box, cardinals, bluebirds, goldfinches, and a painted bunting. There was a spray can of titanium white primer, a dozen colors of paint, and a selection of brushes. Underneath it all was an instruction manual.

"Birds?" Robin was flummoxed.

"I asked Father Domingo how you could make some pocket money. This is a program for people who are laid up at home. The company pays fifty cents for each bird you paint and the church gets a quarter on top of that. People put them in their gardens. I thought we could paint some together and you can use the money to buy some of those toy soldiers." Robin's eyebrows leapt at the idea. He began to calculate at once.

"How long does it take to paint a bird?"

"We'll have to see. Father Domingo says it's slow at first, but not bad once you get the hang of it. You have to do a good job painting them and follow the manual exactly, or the company won't take them. They gave us two bluebirds to practice on."

"That sounds easy. I can do that!" Robin said.

"It's good practice for painting your own soldiers. Let's start slow, we don't want to run out of paint." The wind wailed outside and thunder rumbled a long way off. Robin hardly seemed to notice. He could not wait to begin. It was a perfect day for arts and crafts.