“See you tomorrow, Lolo,” Tío Diego says before walking out with Norberto.
Humans. I was sure Tío Diego would miss Miguel, but he’s happy to have somebody else carry his bag and walk outside with him. Nobody loves Miguel but me.
Should I go out and look for him?
My heart pounds as I think of going out there alone and facing mean cats, cold winds, danger. I should stay here and wait a bit longer. If Miguel doesn’t come back, then I’ll leave. If he doesn’t come back, I might not have a choice.
CHAPTER 16 Miguel
I jump out of my seat when the school bell rings.
“See you tomorrow!” I say to Benny. Then I run all the way to art club.
It feels weird—in a wonderful way—to not leave school right away. To not go to the bodega. To do something I want to do.
There are six of us in art club. I wave to the two kids I know from my class.
A girl with long frizzy hair and purple braces plops down next to me. “Hi! I’m Jenny!” She holds her hand out, and we shake.
“Um, Miguel.”
Ms. Miller claps her hands and welcomes us to art club. “Let’s start with a fun project.” She hands each of us a piece of poster board. “Today you’re making 3D paper name sculptures. Here is mine.” She holds up a sculpture with the letters M-I-L-L-E-R decorated and all mixed up and mushed together.
She hands out scissors and glue. We take out our colored markers.
“The first step is to create a base of any shape or size.”
The base of Ms. Miller’s sculpture is square, with red and yellow polka dots.
I cut out a neat square from my poster board and search for red and yellow markers.
“Remember,” Ms. Miller says. “You don’t have to make your base like mine. It can be round, square, oval, rectangular—whatever you’d like. After all, you’re artists!”
I glance at Jenny. She’s cutting out a star.
I still like my square, but I put the red and yellow markers back. My base will look good with black and white swirls, kind of like Lolo’s tail.
“Next,” Ms. Miller says, “draw and cut out the letters of your name, and decorate each letter front and back.”
I don’t look at Ms. Miller’s sculpture this time. My heart swings when I think about being here and not at the bodega for once. I imagine the cool things I’d see if I could go somewhere even farther than school. What if I finally get the chance to explore all of New York City?
I decorate the M with drawings of Mico and Super Cat eating hot dogs in the bleachers at Yankee Stadium. On the I, the two of them are looking up at the Empire State Building. They’re relaxing in a rowboat in Central Park on the G, and ice-skating at Rockefeller Center down the U. When I get to the E, I remember that I’ve always wanted to see the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall, so I draw them.
I’m still finishing the Statue of Liberty on my L when Ms. Miller gives each of us a small cardboard cube to glue onto our bases. “Pile your letters on the cube in any order and position you like,” she says.
I stack mine neatly, one on top of the other, with all the letters in order.
“Your drawings are amazing,” Jenny says. “And that looks like a skyscraper!”
Her letters are exploding from her star like a comet in a night sky.
I’ve stacked mine the way I arrange cans at the bodega. Boring.
I pull my letters apart while the glue is still wet and rearrange them in just the right order.
“Beautiful!” Ms. Miller says. “You have the heart of an artist!”
If only my parents understood that.
CHAPTER 17 Lolo
I see him! I see him! Miguel is home!
As soon as he walks through the door, I jump down and weave around his legs.
“Hey, Lolito!” Miguel gets on one knee and I bump faces with him.
I knew he’d never leave me! Well, I hoped he wouldn’t. And now I know.
When Miguel walks out the following morning, I don’t worry. I eat a piece of the quiet man’s breakfast sandwich, some granola bar from the fast-walking lady, and a bit of bacon from Norberto with the baseball hat. Then I take a nice nap.
When I wake up, the orange cat is back. She watches me through the window, and I can tell she’s jealous. Too bad, I think, this is my place.
“Ay, qué preciosa.” Mami props the door open with a wooden box. She puts some of my food outside for the cat, who slurps it up lickety-split. “Wow, you’re very hungry. It looks like you’ve been eating better lately, but I’ll get you some more.”
