NO ONE GAVE HIM A PENNY ALL DAY… BUT WHEN THE MAN IN THE BLACK TRUCK ROLLED DOWN HIS WINDOW AND LOOKED AT HIS LITTLE DOG, ANDERSON KNEW SOMETHING VERY STRANGE WAS ABOUT TO HAPPEN.
“Luna…” the person stated from the truck, his voice breaking.
Anderson opened his eyes all of the sudden.
Mayte raised her head, alert, however didn’t bark.
Site visitors roared round them.
Horns started to blare as a result of the truck was nonetheless stopped in the midst of the avenue.
However in that prompt, every thing appeared to freeze.
The person clutched an previous {photograph} between his fingers.
The picture confirmed a younger girl smiling in entrance of a humble home.
In her arms, she held a honey-colored pet.
The identical white patch on its chest.
The identical floppy ear.
The identical darkish gaze.
Anderson felt a chill run down his backbone.
“That… can’t be attainable,” the person muttered as he stepped out of the car.
Mayte took a step again and pressed herself towards Anderson’s leg.
He stood up, drained however tense.
“Her identify is Mayte,” he stated firmly. “And she or he’s mine.”
The person checked out him for the primary time.
Not with contempt.
Not with pity.
However with confusion.
He was about fifty, effectively dressed, with a face hardened by time and crimson eyes, as if he hadn’t slept in days.
“No,” he stated softly. “That pet was named Luna. My daughter misplaced her 9 years in the past.”
Anderson frowned.
“Then it’s not the identical canine.”
“It will be… if it weren’t for one thing unimaginable.”
The driving force approached nervously.
“Mr. Esteban, we have to go.”
However Esteban didn’t transfer.
His eyes remained fastened on Mayte, as if he had been seeing a ghost.
“My daughter disappeared the identical day that canine went lacking,” he stated quietly. “We by no means discovered both of them.”
The phrases hung within the air.
Anderson swallowed.
He didn’t know what to say.
He didn’t perceive why this stranger was speaking a couple of lacking daughter whereas Mayte as if she held all of the solutions.
“Sir, I discovered Mayte three years in the past close to the bus terminal,” he stated slowly. “She was injured. She had a damaged leg and a rope round her neck. I took care of her. She’s been with me ever since.”
Esteban seemed down.
His jaw trembled.
“My daughter’s identify was Lucía,” he stated. “She was seventeen. She sang. She left residence after an argument with me… and by no means got here again.”
Anderson felt one thing tighten in his chest.
She sang.
The phrase hit him more durable than he anticipated.
As a result of he had identified somebody like that.
Years in the past.
In one other metropolis.
On an evening he had by no means totally spoken about.
Esteban stepped ahead.
“The place precisely did you discover the canine?”
Anderson hesitated.
He didn’t like the way in which the person was him now.
As if he had already began placing the items collectively.
“In Barranquilla,” he answered. “Close to the previous terminal.”
Esteban’s eyes widened.
“Lucía was final seen in Barranquilla.”
Silence fell closely between them.
The driving force spoke once more, extra quietly.
“Mr. Esteban…”
However Esteban ignored him.
“Are you a musician?” he requested all of the sudden.
Anderson felt a lump in his throat.
“Sure.”
“For a way lengthy?”
“All the time.”
“Have been you in Barranquilla three years in the past… singing in small bars?”
Anderson stopped respiratory for a second.
He didn’t reply immediately.
As a result of three years in the past, he had sung in empty bars, on worn-out terraces, on road corners the place faces blurred into smoke and noise.
As a result of in a kind of locations, he met a lady.
Skinny.
Nervous.
With a small scar on her eyebrow.
And a honey-colored canine that by no means left her facet.
Lucía.
She by no means instructed him her final identify.
She by no means instructed him every thing.
Solely that she was operating from somebody and didn’t need to be discovered.
He remembered her voice.
The best way she sang softly, as if each phrase price her one thing.
The best way she saved trying over her shoulder.
One evening, after closing the bar, she requested him for a favor.
“If I ever disappear,” she stated, “take my canine with you. Don’t go away her alone.”
He had laughed, considering it was simply worry speaking.
The next week, Lucía didn’t return.
Of their small room, there was solely an previous blanket, a pocket book with track lyrics… and the little canine tied to the mattress, crying.
Anderson tightened his grip.
“I… met a younger girl,” he lastly stated.
Esteban turned pale.
“What was her identify?”
“Lucía.”
The person stepped again as if struck.
“My God…”
The driving force held his arm.
“Sir, please.”
However Esteban pulled away.
“The place is she?” he requested, his voice breaking. “The place is my daughter?”
Anderson seemed down.
“I don’t know.”
Esteban shook his head.
“Please don’t deceive me.”
“I’m not.”
“When you had been along with her, you will need to know one thing!”
Mayte let loose a gentle, uneasy sound.
Anderson seemed up.
There was ache in that man’s eyes.
Deep, previous ache.
But in addition guilt.
“She didn’t need to return,” Anderson stated quietly.
The phrases hit exhausting.
Esteban stood nonetheless.
“What did she say?” he requested, virtually whispering.
Anderson hesitated.
However Lucía was gone.
And this man had spent 9 years looking out.
“She stated you tried to regulate every thing in her life,” Anderson stated. “Her good friend
