Chapter 19 - THE PARTY
Elena’s eighth birthday took place in La Estrella after the restaurant reopened.
No velvet ropes.
No armed men at the door.
No whispers from customers afraid to look too long.
Just balloons, music, paper plates, and a cake with purple frosting shaped like a horse.
Bruno wore a ridiculous blue bow around his neck.
He endured it because Elena tied it there.
I came alone, as promised.
No Tony.
No drivers.
No gun visible.
Still, every adult in the room noticed me.
Children did not.
That was one of the many reasons I preferred them.
Elena sat near the window, thinner than before but bright-eyed, with Lily Shaw beside her.
Lily’s mother hovered close, never letting her daughter leave arm’s reach.
The two girls whispered like survivors building a world no adult had earned entry into.
Marco was in custody.
Teresa and Matteo were in protective housing.
Luca had left Queens for my mother’s cousin’s farm upstate, where he was learning that cows did not care about last names.
Harlan awaited trial.
Judge Pierce too.
The city pretended justice had arrived.
I knew better.
Justice was not an arrival.
It was a debt paid in installments.
When the candles were lit, Elena closed her eyes.
Everyone sang.
Her voice was still weak when she blew the candles out.
“What did you wish for?” Lily asked.
Elena looked at Bruno.
Then at me.
“I can’t say.”
Tomas cut the cake.
Rosa gave Bruno one slice.
He negotiated with his eyes and received half of mine.
Later, Elena waved me over.
She held out a folded drawing.
It showed Bruno standing in front of a white coffin, but the coffin was open, and a little girl was climbing out into sunlight.
Beside Bruno stood a man in a black suit.
The man had no crown.
No gun.
No shadow.
Just hands in his pockets, watching.
I looked at Elena.
“Is that me?”
She nodded.
“Why am I so tall?”
“You’re scary.”
“Fair.”
“But not to me,” she said.
I folded the drawing carefully.
Something in my chest ached.
May you like
Not from grief this time.
From the dangerous possibility of becoming someone different.
