Читать книгу Pig Park - Claudia Guadalupe Martinez - Страница 15

Chapter 9

“That’s my pencil,” Casey said.

“No it’s not,” Stacey said.

“I bought it!”

“No you didn’t!”

They talked non-stop, back and forth, their words flying everywhere, crowding the already small basement. I leaned into Josefina. “Did Colonel Franco visit you guys yesterday?” I asked.

“Sure did,” she said. “Colonel Franco walked HIM up and down the street and introduced him to my parents. Do you think the rest of them are that cute?”

“The rest of who?”

“He said more students would be coming to help us.”

“I don’t know.”

“Are New Mexicans supposed to be cute?”

“Same as old Mexicans.”

“Very funny.”

“I know.”

“Old Mexicans like the Colonel?” Casey interrupted.

“Ew. This is a conversation between two, not three,” Josefina said. She made a big to-do about turning her chair around so that she was facing me and giving her back to the Sanchez sisters. “That boy sure is something to look at. Even more reason to get outside.”

I nodded, relieved at Josefina’s changing attitude. Her good mood was contagious. I smiled. Stacey smiled. The Colonel burst into the room. Even he smiled.

He stood in front of us and held up a large paper for us to see. “Okay, girls. I’ve finished the blueprints. Now, someone dial Jorge Peregrino’s number for me.”

Josefina grabbed the phone, punched in the number and handed it to him. Colonel Franco didn’t waste time with small talk. “Jorge, can you call some of those construction friends of yours? Yes. Tell them that we still want to use the salvaged materials the kids hauled.” Colonel Franco nodded, uttered a few mmms, and hung up.

The phone rang a couple minutes later. Colonel Franco reached for the phone and pressed it against his ear. “Done,” he said. He put down the receiver and sat at his desk. He smiled. “A construction company has just offered to donate and build the support beams for La Gran Pirámide’s structure.”

It all looked so easy. Maybe it was because Peregrino was important or because our pyramid was so extraordinary, but people just wanted to be a part of it like Peregrino had promised. It didn’t matter much as long as it got done.

I chewed on my bottom lip and whispered to Josefina. “This could mean we might get back outside sooner than we thought. Let’s work on changing Colonel Franco’s mind while he’s in a good mood.”

“I don’t want to have to go back outside,” Casey said. She pointed to her thick neck. The brace was off, but she wasn’t forgetting.

“Shush it. She wasn’t talking to you. She was talking to me,” Josefina said. “Besides, you barely even got your hands dirty.”

“Yeah,” I said.

Colonel Franco grabbed his clipboard from the top of his desk. He rapped the wall with it. “Let’s not argue, girls. Let’s focus on moving forward here. Work on your letters. I’ll be back in a bit.”

Colonel Franco returned after a few hours and announced that we were done for the day. I stood up and stretched. “I unloaded ten bags of flour this morning, and I feel great,” I said as loud as I could.

“Man, my muscles are bigger than Marcos’ now. I’m stronger than any of these boys,” Josefina played along. Obviously. I’d seen her brother lately.

Colonel Franco didn’t even look our way. He kept his eyes on the stack of papers on his desk. We were going to have to try harder.

“We need to come up with a better plan,” I said to Josefina as we walked home.

“You’re right,” she said. “We’ll think of something. We’ll get it right. He can’t ignore us forever. Don’t worry.”