Incantation by Alice Hoffman Read Free Book Online Page B

the fields, making its way through the lightening sky. I had seen these same fields every day of my life, the same olive and almond trees, the same horizon. Still, I couldn’t help but wonder if it was a mistake for people like us to be tied to a place. If we weren’t meant to be ready and willing to wander. If everything we needed was contained in who we were.
    And what we remembered.

 

    DARKENING LIGHT

    Who Can You Tell

 

    Sorrow

    O ver the next few days, there was so much looting that the streets became too dangerous to walk. My grandfather made a new lock for our door and nailed the windows shut. We did not go to the market or the dye vats or to the well in the Plaza. We took in the animals at night, letting the chickens lay their eggs on our rugs, the sheep shelter under our table, allowing the pigs to sleep beside the stove, all except for Dini, whom I sneaked up to my room at night.
    Dini was very well behaved and quiet; he slept on a pile of rags, curled up in a corner. I could hear him snuffling in his dreams while I fell asleep, happy enough just to be near me. I wished I could sleep as deeply as he did. I wished I could be so easily comforted.

    O NE EVENING , I went out for walk with Catalina. We were both restless, and we missed each other. Maybe I was wrong about the distance between us. Maybe we could be friends. Crow and Raven. Two girls who looked like sisters, with the same long black hair. Two girls who believed they could be anything they wanted to be.
    Remember when we used to pretend we were donkeys and run through the field?
I asked.
    We were silly children,
Catalina said.
    You were faster than I was,
I said.
    I was.
Catalina looked pleased.
    In truth, I always slowed down at the end of every race. I was the sort of donkey who didn’t need to win. Maybe that was why whenever Catalina wanted something of mine, I was only too happy to give it to her.
    But you were prettier,
Catalina said.
    She had slipped her arm away from mine.
    A donkey is a donkey.
I laughed.
None are pretty.
    That may be,
Catalina said,
but some birds are called ravens and others are called crows. We’re too old to pretend anymore.
Catalina stopped and gave me a hard stare.
I don’t like the way you look at Andres,
she said.
    I wanted to say
I can’t help myself,
but I didn’t say anything.
    Stay away from him,
Catalina said.
I won’t tell you again.

    O NE MORNING when we woke up, we found that a window had been pried open. Someone had broken in. My grandmother checked and made sure that her greatest treasure, her silver candlesticks, were still there. She searched through the rest of our belongings. All the robbers seemed to have taken was food. Olives, flour, a jar of honey. People were afraid to go to the shops or even to work in their own fields. These days it was not safe for a woman to venture to the market alone, lest she be taken by soldiers and questioned about her friends and neighbors. My grandmother decided that from that day forward she would leave a basket of food in the yard for anyone who might be hungry.
    After we’d set out some bread and feta cheese for passersby, my grandmother turned to me and asked where my pearls were. Could they have been stolen?
    I’m sure they’re here,
I said.
    I went to my room and pretended to search for them, then returned and told my grandmother I had found my necklace, stored in a box where I kept trinkets.
    You should have put them on,
my grandmother said.
They would be safe around your neck.
    I said that the weather had been so hot I couldn’t bear the feel of anything against my skin.
    My grandmother narrowed her eyes.
    Pearls come from the sea. They’re always cool.
    My grandmother wasn’t an easy person to lie to. Still, I had begun; as terrible as it felt, I had to carry on.
    I’ll wear them to dinner,
I told my grandmother.
    I went to Catalina’s house right away, even though I dreaded seeing her. I couldn’t believe I’d given something so precious