I hear Thomas and Dad talking in the driveway on Monday morning, so I already know what Thomas is going to say when he comes to find me. I see him coming, so I pick up my book and walk toward the door.
“Asteroid,” he calls, but I pretend I don’t hear and keep walking until I’m in the kitchen.
He won’t follow me in here.
Abena is here, though, and she says, “Thomas is looking for you. He wants to tell you something.”
“Stupid Thomas,” I say, but not loud enough for her to hear.
“You go find him,” she says. I want to pretend I can’t hear her either, but since she’s standing a couple of feet away from me, I can’t. She opens the door.
“Go on,” she says.
Thomas is across the yard, raking, so I walk toward the back, where Gordo is watching the spider spin its web again. Gordo takes no notice when I get there, so I sit next to him and watch too. The spider moves slowly and hardly seems to be doing anything, but then she reaches the other side of the web, and suddenly a new line connects the two pieces together.
Thomas comes across the yard, so I stand up to go somewhere else, but he catches my eye and I sit back down again.
“Go away,” I say to Gordo.
“Get lost,” says Gordo.
“Go on.” I don’t want to have this conversation with Gordo here, even though he’ll have to find out soon.
“Hi, you two,” says Thomas.
“She’s almost done,” Gordo says, pointing at the web. Thomas nods, then says, “Astrid, can you help me for a minute?” I nod but don’t say anything as he leads me around to the front of the house.
“Astrid, I’m leaving. I have to go.”
“Fine,” I say. My voice is higher than I intend.
“Esi wants me to say goodbye to you from her. She gave me this to give to you.” He holds out a tape. The word Blondie is written on the case.
“Fine,” I say again.
“Don’t be like that, Astrid.”
I glare at him. I want to speak, but my mouth won’t open. Words crowd into my head but refuse to leave my mouth.
“We have to go—you know we do. Esi’s afraid to go back to the market. There’s nothing for her to do here. There’s no future for us.”
I nod, still unable to speak, and take the tape from him.
I stare at my feet.
“We’ll talk again before I go,” he says.
I make myself get up early the next morning and go outside to wait for Thomas. It’s so early the roosters are still crowing, but I want to make sure I’m there when Thomas comes. I sit on the step and lean against the house.
The wheelbarrow man walks past, then another man with a bundle of wood on his head, then three women carrying plastic tubs, and then, finally, Thomas. He turns into the drive and smiles at me as always.
“Asteroid,” he says.
“Hi, Thomas.”
Instead of going to the shed as usual, he comes and sits next to me. He pulls off his toque and jacket and plunks them in a heap between us.
“I’m sorry for yesterday,” I say.
“It’s okay, Astrid. I understand.”
“And I’m sorry you and Esi have to go.”
He takes a deep breath. “Me too.”
I finger the bundle on my lap.
“You understand why we have to go, don’t you?” Thomas asks.
“Not really, but I guess it’s because of what happened at the market. And the soldier who came here.”
“It’s not safe there for Esi. I don’t want her there.”
“Yeah,” I say.
“And she doesn’t want to go back there either.”
“Yeah.” I understand that. I can’t even imagine what it was like.
“But Thomas, I was thinking: What if I sell your animals at school for you when the summer holidays are over? I bet loads of people would buy them.”
Thomas leans back against the wall and closes his eyes, and I think I’ve said something bad. Something insulting. But then he opens his eyes and pulls me into a hug. “You have such a good heart, Astrid.”
“So it’s a good idea, right?” I ask.
“No. It’s a generous idea, but not a good one.”
“How come?”
“Your teachers would never let you, and neither would your parents.”
I hadn’t thought of that. He’s right though. I can picture the look on the headmistress’s face. If it weren’t so sad, it would make me laugh.
“Where will you go?” I ask.
“Esi’s family lives in Kumasi. We’ll go there for a while.”
“And you’ll work with her brothers.”
“Yes.”
“But it won’t be as good as working here,” I say.
Thomas laughs. “I like Esi’s brothers, and I’ll be able to make more animals and sell them in their store.”
“But there won’t be Gordo and Piper and me.”
“No, Astrid, there won’t.” Thomas smiles and gathers his toque and jacket. “I’d better get to work.”
“Here,” I say. I hand him the bundle I’ve been holding in my lap.
“What is it?”
“Open it and see.”
Thomas peels back the paper. “Oh, Astrid,” he says. He picks the bird up and cradles it in his hand. The two wings soar away from the body like the bird is in mid-flight.
“Mom helped me glue it back together,” I say.
He holds it out and turns it around and around, peering at each wing.
“I can hardly see where it broke. Thank you, Astrid.”
“You’re welcome.”
He walks away, still holding the bird up to the light.