CHAPTER 6

We ran to the little shop, where Héctor had moved Viola into a chair on the shady front porch. She was alone with David, who was bringing her a glass of water.

“Thank you, darling,” she said, taking a sip of water.

I saw a look of surprise cross Chives’s face. As her butler, he had brought her thousands of glasses of water, but all she ever said was it was too cold or too hot or too full or too empty. The words “thank you” had never crossed her mind or her lips. But being with her son seemed to have changed Viola. She was suddenly as sweet as a doughnut hole.

Which, by the way, is my favorite part of the doughnut.

We explained Sofía’s situation and how it was urgent that we try to help her.

“Oh, I wish I had brought my purse,” Viola said. “I could have just given them the money they need.”

“I don’t have a cent,” David said.

“Then we must try our hardest to help Antonia sell those flowers,” Viola said.

“Okay,” Luna said. “Everyone here is now on Team Sofía. Let’s go make some money.”

“If it’s okay with you, I need to stay with my mother,” David said. “She’s in pain from her leg, and her cough is bad, but she says everything hurts less when I’m here.”

I watched Viola smile at him and dab her eyes with a tissue. This was not the same person who just a little while before had been whacking a man with her purse.

“Chives, will you fill in for me?” David asked.

“With pleasure, sir,” Chives answered in his best butler voice.

“Good,” Luna said. “You can help us carry Antonia’s flowers into town.”

We got Antonia and divided the flowers, leaving her mother and Sofía at the shop. We hurried down the dusty road toward the town center. Luna carried some of the lilies. Antonia and I did, too. We used Chives’s leash to strap the rest onto his back.

It took a few minutes to get to the town plaza. It was filled with colorful buildings and crowds of people with animals, shopping and wandering around. I wasn’t sure what year we were in, but there were a few classic-looking cars, so I knew it was the twentieth century.

“My snout is tickling.” Chives snorted softly. “I think I may sneeze.”

“¿Qué?” Antonia said from behind her flowers. “¿El puerco habla?”

“No, no, no,” Luna said and slapped Chives on the rump. “Chives doesn’t talk. He’s a pig!”

But Antonia knew what she had heard, and she looked frightened.

“Tell Antonia that this pig makes a lot of annoying noises,” I suggested. “But that just means he’ll taste extra delicious for dinner.”

While Luna translated my message, I whispered to Chives that if he didn’t cool it, he might really wind up on tonight’s dinner plate.

“That is insulting,” he said, stomping his hoof.

Antonia’s eyes grew even wider. I could see her trying not to scream. Without so much as a look back, she took off running. Just then, a man in all white walked out of what looked to be a butcher’s shop on the edge of the square. His eyes went right to Chives.

“Hola, puerco,” he said with a gleam in his eyes.

“Eek!” Chives screeched and took off toward the town square at a fast trot, dragging me after him.

We made quite an entrance into the plaza. It was market day, and the square was lined with stalls selling everything from tortillas to pottery to flowers. Every building was painted in different glowing colors: banana yellow, sky blue, cherry red.

“Whoa, Chives!” I yelled, pulling on the leash and taking the flowers off his back. “You have to calm down or you’ll scare away our customers.”

“What customers?” he answered. “There are a lot of flower stalls here. Why would anyone want to buy our flowers?”

He was right. There were many stalls selling flowers of all colors and sizes.

We searched the square, but we couldn’t find Antonia. It was crowded with people shopping, playing instruments, and watching their children run around.

“Antonia!” Luna called, but there was no answer.

“I told you that you shouldn’t talk in front of her,” I said to Chives. “Now you’ve freaked her out. And we have no idea where to look for her.”

I checked my watch. It was 4:23 p.m. Thirty-seven minutes left until five o’clock.

This was not good. We had so much to get done and so little time. We had to find Antonia, and fast!