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House of the Scorpion
by Nancy Farmer
Celia left in the morning, and Matt spent the entire day waiting for the children. He had given up hope when, just before sunset, he heard voices approaching through the poppy fields.
He planted himself in front of the window and waited.
"There he is! See, María, I told you I wasn't lying," cried Emilia. Her hand rested on the shoulder of a much smaller girl. "He won't talk to us, but you're about his age. Maybe he won't be afraid of you." Emilia pushed the girl ahead of her and fell back to wait with Steven.
María wasn't at all shy about coming up to the window. "Hey, boy!" she yelled, rapping the glass with her fist. "What's your name? Do you want to play?"
With one blow, she stole Matt's carefully prepared speech. He stared at her, unable to think of another opening.
"Well, is it yes or no?" María turned toward the others. "Make him unlock the door."
"That's up to him," said Steven.
Matt wanted to say he didn't have the key, but he was unable to get the words out.
"At least he isn't hiding today," remarked Emilia.
"If you can't unlock the door, open the window," María said.
Matt tried, knowing it wouldn't work. Celia had nailed the window shut. He threw up his hands.
"He understands what we say," said Steven.
"Hey, boy! If you don't do something quick, we're going away," María shouted.
Matt thought desperately. He needed something to interest them. He held up his finger, as Celia did when she wanted him to wait. He nodded his head to show that he agreed with María's demand and was about to do something.
"What does that mean?" said Emilia.
"Beats me. Maybe he's a mute and can't talk," Steven guessed.
Matt raced to his bedroom. He ripped the picture of the man with the bullfrog sandwich from the wall. It made Celia laugh. Maybe it would make these children laugh. He ran back and pressed the newspaper against the window. The three children came close to study it.
"What's it say?" asked María.
"'Ribbit on Rye,'" read Steven. "Do you get it? It's a bullfrog going ribbit, ribbit, ribbit, and it's between two slices of rye bread. That's pretty funny."
Emilia giggled, but María looked uncertain. "People don't eat bullfrogs," she said. "I mean, not when they're alive."
"It's a joke, dum-dum."
"I'm not a dum-dum! It's mean and nasty to eat bullfrogs! I don't think it's funny at all."
"Save me from eejits," said Steven, rolling his eyes.
"I'm not an eejit, either!"
"Oh, lighten up, María," Emilia said.
"You brought me out here to see a boy, and it was miles and miles across the fields, and I'm tired and the boy won't talk. I hate you!"
Matt stared at the scene with consternation. That wasn't the result he wanted at all. María was crying, Emilia looked angry, and Steven had turned his back on both of them. Matt rapped on the window. When María looked up, he waved the picture and then wadded it into a ball. He threw it with all his force across the room.
"See, he agrees with me," cried María through her tears.
"This is getting weirder by the minute," said Steven. "I knew we shouldn't have brought the eejit."
"I thought the boy would talk to a kid his own size," Emilia said. "Come on, María. We have to get back before dark."
"I'm not walking anywhere!" The little girl flopped down on the ground.
"Well, I won't carry you, fatso."
"Just leave her," said Steven. He started walking off, and after a moment Emilia followed him.
Matt was appalled. If the big kids went away, María would be all alone. It was going to be dark soon, and Celia wouldn't return for hours. María would be alone with nothing but the empty poppy fields and the...
The chupacabras, who came out after dark and sucked your juices and left you to dry like an old cantaloupe skin!
Suddenly Matt knew what he had to do. María had walked a few steps away from the window before sitting down again. She was shouting insults at the vanished Steven and Emilia. Matt grabbed the big iron cooking pot Celia used to make menudo and swung it before he could worry much about her reaction. She would be furious! But he was saving María's life. He smashed out the glass in the window. It fell in a tinkling, jangling mass to the ground. María jumped to her feet. Steven and Emilia rose up instantly from the poppy field, where they'd been hiding.
"Holy frijoles!" said Steven. All three stood openmouthed, staring at the empty hole where the window had been.
"My name is Matt. I live here. Do you want to play?" said Matt because he couldn't think of another thing to say.
(Copyright by Nancy Farmer)
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