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Darcy was enjoying getting settled in her new location. It was the first time she'd been able to totally relax in peace since leaving her cozy base on the moon.
That seemed like years ago.
It was comforting to arrange her own small house within a larger compound, itself set off and isolated from its surroundings. She was used to that.
And Matt had been correct: the area was beautiful. There were all kinds of lovely trees up and down the banks of the river, there was water flowing in the irrigation canals, cultivated fields, lush orchards, blinding desert, and rocky, angular mountains all within sight.
Matt had also been right about Grandma Méndez. He had warned that the old lady was sometimes hard to get along with, but Darcy had had no problems on that score. Abuelita was not that different from Hleo, really. Both were prone to be crotchety. It was wise to treat them with respect, but there were compensations too.
Hleo was a terrific station manager and a resourceful and swift expediter of details. Grandma Méndez wasn't as speedy as Hleo, but she had a vast store of practical knowledge that Darcy needed to know and which she loved teaching to her lodger.
She had been particularly scandalized that Ana (from Argentina! ¡Por el amor de dios! For the love of God) had only a bare working knowledge of Spanish. Most of the time they spent together, Abuelita spoke to Darcy in Spanish.
Darcy ingratiated herself in the old lady's eyes by helping willingly around the house. Her favorite chores were cooking and gardening, followed by sorting, at Grandma Méndez' direction, boxes of old family photographs and documents and compiling them into scrapbooks.
Darcy discovered things about Matt's early life that he himself probably never knew or had forgotten. Through the piles of snapshots, she watched him grow from a cute, mischievous-looking youngster into a strapping, sturdy young man. She learned more about him than he would have believed. He was cheerful, athletic, a good student, and willing to work. Would her own album have been as kind to her?
Although Señora Méndez had done her share of cooking in her day, she no longer had much enthusiasm for it. Still, she was happy to teach Darcy, who found each new flavor combination a revelation. If there was a taste she didn't like, she hadn't encountered it yet.
Mrs. Méndez didn't own a lot of books, but half of those she did own were cookbooks, and Darcy studied them at length. Much of the food they ate was purchased fresh, from the local producers.
Darcy began to know these people, and to chat with them about the details of producing it.
There was even an extensive network of paths and little-used field roads that she could run on. Many of the paths followed the irrigation canals through local fields, in full sight of the nearby mountains.
Evenings were a problem. Grandma Méndez went to bed early, at which point Darcy generally retired to her own little house.
At first there was little to do. Borrowing books from the old lady didn't offer the variety she would have preferred but she could find no library within walking distance.
While on a run one evening she met a middle-aged woman on a bicycle who taught at a nearby high school and who told her about the books by mail program run by the Las Cruces Public Library.
Once Darcy convinced Grandma Méndez to register with them (in the interest of her lodger’s education), she could look forward to resuming her research into early history and culture.
There was no hurry.
She had plenty of time.
That was her biggest unknown, really: time. What was she going to do with the rest of her life?
Darcy had little idea how long her life might be, given the strange road she'd taken to get where she was. Was she going to always live in a little adobe house in the corner of a family compound in southern New Mexico?
She would never reveal her true identity, not when it was so clear all the havoc that would cause. Her one experience with that had been more than enough. But that didn't mean that she had to lie low and do basically nothing at all.
There was still so much to get used to and to learn about.
Darcy decided she'd worry about the future later. She spent four evenings assembling and learning to use her stereo, television, and computer. After arranging for internet service, she spent another evening online, bookmarking websites and dialing up the email account she had opened in Barbados.
Darcy drafted a message to Hleo in code but did not send it, instead saving it to a folder she created.
The following evening there was an answer from him in the same folder. Perfect! She actually felt some affection for the old fellow. To her surprise, he also seemed to have missed her company. He told her he had set things up so she could proceed with the test he had planned earlier, so the next morning she activated the little microphone on the computer and dialed the office of Hartley Braithwaite.
"Hello. Is Mr. Braithwaite there, please? Please tell him Ana is calling. Thank you."
It looked like it was going to work! Hleo would be delighted...unless he was already listening.
