Telling Fortunes in Phoenix

Chui

Chui watched the ranch from the small cave high on the bluff. When the devil woman looked up to the ridge he knew she couldn’t see him in the shadows but he shivered in the warm air. She was thinking of him and of the rest of the children, he was certain.

When Nik drove off Jesús snatched up the provisions and bundled them onto the burro before hurrying off through rocky land to hide. He knew better than to rush off without food and drink and he didn’t even consider leaving the donkey behind. It was good company. The little beast had been all lonely in that giant stable but it was happy now. Chui had tethered it in green grass in a shady meadow on the back slope before positioning himself to watch the ranch, trying to discover a way to rescue his family.

His father and mother and aunt and uncles were there below in those rooms. He had watched the devil woman as she brought food and fed the chickens, moving in and out of the big house restlessly. She seemed to be alone, at least the car that held the ghost man had gone.

His mind was torn about his sister and cousins. Nik, Nik, Nik. The short vowel was not used in Spanish and he practiced the sound, rolling the word in his mouth, memorizing it. He’d been overwhelmed with the responsibility of hiding the children when Nik appeared, seeming so normal with his brown skin and hair, not a bleached out spirit like the devil woman and ghost man. He trusted the man for no good reason, he knew, but he must have been sent from God. He knew the ghost man would be after him, knew they would all be captured and returned to those locked rooms if Nik did not take them. He had to trust that God was watching out for them.

Now, though, God had done what he could. Chui knew that once they had reached America his family had become criminals and he could not go to the police even if he had the money to pay their price. There was no money, of that he was certain. No, Chui needed to rescue his parents, then his father could take over. He would know what to do.

The devil woman looked up at him, making his body lose its strength. Though she was a tiny figure she dazzled the air and he felt her ice blue eyes burning through the distance. A normal woman could not see him here, so far away and in the dark, but she was not human. She’d drop her disguise and rise on silver wings to peck out his eyes. He scuttled backward to the wall of the cave, his eyes fixed on her shining head, awaiting his fate.

Then a trail of dust approached on the dirt road from the highway and the devil woman turned to face the road as a white sedan pulled into the yard. A man got out and it seemed he argued with the devil woman then grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her. He had something in his other hand and she shook her head while casting glances at it as they moved toward the long building holding his family.

She seemed to be talking fast, and at one point pulled away and faced him, hands on hips, but he hit her on the face, stopping the argument. They stood in place a long moment, then the man nodded his head and they turned and went to the main house.

What had happened? Could this complication make his task easier? Chui watched these activities, transfixed.