by Regina Rheda
Susi had brought clean panties and pants for her daughter in her bag, as she always did whenever they went out together. She cleaned Leona with a wet paper towel and helped her put the clean clothes on. Then she combed the girl’s hair. “How come a hairdresser’s daughter has such a messy scalp?” Susi thought aloud.
Leona’s crying spree started to wane; only the occasional sob could be heard.
“You drank soda, didn’t you? Or Coca Cola?” Susi asked.
Leona nodded.
“I told you not to! That’s why you couldn’t hold your pee!” Susi said.
“Miss Norma gave it to me,” Leona informed.
“The girl was thirsty!” Miss Norma argued. “I didn’t know she couldn’t drink soda! What was I supposed to do?”
“Miss Norma also gave me some peanut brittle and now I’m sick,” Leona informed.
Miss Norma was unsure what to say.
Leona sniffed leftover mucus back up her nose.
“Mom, was Uncle Joel disappeared?”
Susi and Miss Norma exchanged puzzled glances.
“What? Where is this even coming from, honey?” Susi asked.
Miss Norma was quick to add, “Of course he was not disappeared! Nobody was disappeared!"
The girl had a semblance of a smile on her face. Her mood was changing. Miss Norma took advantage of it. “Now why don’t we go back to your armchair and wait for the radio guy to call you?”
“I don’t want to,” Leona said.
Miss Norma sat on a bench and put Leona on her lap. “Oh, come on, sweetie. There are many things that people don’t want to do, but they do anyway. That’s because those things are good! Your speech delivery, for example. It’ll make you sound even smarter than you are. It’ll make our school famous, and my work admired, perhaps even abroad.”
Susi was impressed. “Abroad, Miss Norma. Where?”
“In the United States. I’m involved in this educational project financed by an organization linked to the American government.”
“Oh. Education about what?”
“It’s much-needed education against communism and left-wing government officials, Susi. You see, if the organization likes the work I’m doing at my school, for instance, Leona’s speech and what not, it might open up opportunities for me.”
“So, you could get work in the United States?”
“Well, I’d love too. For that to happen, one needs to build connections.”
“I see. But if Leona fails…”
“It wouldn’t help, of course. It’s bad enough that I couldn’t meet the American ambassador here, because the man couldn’t come,” a resentful Miss Norma said.
Leona whined, “I don’t want you to leave for the United States, Miss Norma. I’ll miss you.”
Miss Norma meowed, “Aww.”
Susi sat next to Miss Norma and transferred her child from the teacher’s lap to her own. “Listen, sweetie. Miss Norma needs you to read that speech today. Just do it. It’s such a short speech. It’ll be over in a second, you won’t even notice it. So, what do you say?”
Leona felt good on her mother’s lap. But she refused to do the speech.
The intern knocked at the bathroom door. “Leona Silva? Are you there?”
“No, I’m not!” the girl shouted.
“Yes, she is, thank you for asking, just a second, please,” Susi was quick to assert through the bathroom door. She changed her tone and harshly whispered to Leona, “Listen, you ungrateful little brat. Don’t make me and your teacher waste more of our time. You go out there and deliver that speech, or I’ll evict your uncle and tell him to keep away from you for as long as you’re under my care. How does that sound, huh?”
Leona felt hurt and gloomy but said nothing. She let her mother drag her by the hand out of the bathroom, followed by her teacher. Miss Norma retrieved the typed speech from the armchair that had been Leona’s post, now occupied by the representative of Going Bananas Fruit Company. Led by the intern, Miss Norma, Susi and Leona entered the studio.
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