“Take the notebook, Sam,” Caroline said. They were standing on the corner near her house. There were tears in her eyes. “Learn to read, Sam. Then write to me.”
He could feel the anger simmering. “Do you think I don't want to?” But this was Caroline, and he saw her face redden. “I'm sorry, really sorry,” he said. “But I gave up on that.”
“Draw pictures, put letters together any old way. Don't worry about the spelling. I'll understand it.” The tears were running down her cheeks now, but she didn't pay attention to them.
“Maybe. I'll try.” He knew he couldn't do it.
Would he ever see her again?
“One thing,” he said, and she smiled, brushing the tears away. “I would never have found out as much as I did without you.”
He started down the street, and she called after him. “One thing. You'll be my best friend forever.”
He raised one hand. He could hardly see her through his own tears. He turned the corner and began to run.
He stopped at the workroom door to say hello to Mack.
Mack looked up. “I'm sorry she's leaving,” he said. “Such a nice girl. Anima's made something for you, crepes, I think.”
Sam nodded, tried to smile. He walked along the back of the building, waving to Onji, and opened the kitchen door of Kerala House.
“Hey, sweetie.” Anima looked up from the sink. “I've just made banana crepes for you, and we'll have a cup of tea.” She pointed to a chair and put a plate in front of him.
How was he going to eat anything?
Anima gave a quick shake of her head, then poured tea for them both and sat opposite. She stirred a little sugar into her cup. “I'm sorry about Caroline,” she said.
He took a gulp from his own cup. So much had happened today. “We took a bus to Waterway.”
She glanced toward the window. “A long ride, but it was lovely out today. A day you'll remember.”
He glanced at her. Waterway didn't mean anything to her, he could see that. For the first time he realized she might not know anything about where he came from. He took a breath. “Remember that sweater? Could I see it? Would you tell me about it?”
She blinked. “The little blue one with the zipper?” He knew she wanted to ask why, but instead she pointed up. “Eat the crepe. The sweater's upstairs.”
Sam listened to her quick steps, the sound of a drawer opening. She brought the sweater back to the table and unwrapped the tissue paper around it.
They reached out at the same time to touch it. The wool was stiff, matted, the stitches pulled in spots.
“I want to know.”
“About when you came?” Anima reached for his hand, held it with her own small one. “It was a terrible night, with sleet covering the roads, the sound of it against the windows.” She shook her head. “Wait. Let me start at the beginning.”
Her hand was even smaller than Caroline's. She bent her head and he could see a few strands of gray mixed in with the dark hair.
“I'd come here on my own from Kerala, and I had enough money from my parents to buy this building. But I was lonely, so lonely.”
She made a chopping motion with one hand. “I had someone divide the building into three stores. Onji moved in first with Ellie; his wife had gone off somewhere. Later Ellie was married, and he was rattling around in the deli alone.”
Anima patted Sam's hand. “One day, Onji came in. Right at this table, he told me his best friend, Mack, was on his way here, that he was moving from Florida. He needed a place to live and a place to work.”
Anima tilted her head. “Onji said Mack was bringing a child from upstate somewhere.”
She sighed. “Mack was supposed to come at dinnertime. We'd made all kinds of things, Onji and I, but he didn't come, and we waited, waited. We tried to eat the cold dinner, and we worried. I opened the door to see out, and everything was covered with a crust of ice. It was midnight, then two, three, and we sat here still. Just waiting.”
His mouth was dry. The boat? Had they been on the boat?
“Just before light, Mack came in with you.” Anima looked up. “And that cat. You were soaked, filthy; Mack looked exhausted. He'd hurt his leg somehow. When I tried to take you from him, he wouldn't let go. He sat down where you're sitting, Sam, rocking you, his head on your head. And his crying was a terrible thing to see.”
Exhausted. That was the way Sam felt now. A long day.
“At last I took you.” Her eyes were filled with tears. “I unzipped the sweater and pulled it off you. You were shivering now, and Mack, too. I found dry cloths, toweled you off. We put one of Onji's shirts on you. Huge. We've watched you grow into those shirts.” She tapped his hand with one finger. “You became our family. We never felt lonely again.” She sighed. “We never talked about that night again.”
Sam stood up and went around the table. He leaned down to put his arms around her, smelling the sweet face cream she used, leaning his head against her thick hair. “I love you, Anima.”
“I love you, too. We all do.” She reached up and patted his cheek. “Would you like to take the sweater now?”
Sam shook his head. “You keep it for me.”
He went outside and down to the water. Frogs floated on the surface, their throats swollen with song. Night Cat jumped up on Anima's bench, and Sam reached out to pet him. The cat had been lying in the sun, and his fur was warm.
Night Cat, who had come with him all the way.