“This is the accordion. I hope we never sell it,” Del said, pointing out more of her very favorite objects. She grabbed a bejeweled blue tutu. “This costume was maybe worn by a famous ballerina. It probably was. What do you think? Are these real jewels?”
“Maybe,” Alma said. “They’re really sparkly. Can we try it on and pretend to be famous ballerinas?”
“Maybe later,” Del said. “But first I have to show you the rest of the neighborhood.”
“But I’ve seen the neighborhood,” Alma said.
“You live here now! It’s totally different!” Del held Alma’s hand tightly.
“Oh, okay,” Alma said. She sounded unsure. Del would have to think of even more exciting stuff to show her cousin. She pulled her onto the street. Cora and Javi were right outside the door, hanging up posters of Oscar.
“Oh!” Del said, ready to show Alma more things she needed to know about the neighborhood. “This is Oscar! He’s very important. He’s the best dog on the street. He likes bacon and balls and squirrels. He only barks when he wants to play and when he sees a squirrel.”
Alma lit up. Del remembered that Alma loved dogs. “Where is he?” Alma asked his owners. “Can we play with him?”
“He’s actually gone missing,” Cora said. “He’s been gone for two days.”
Del gasped. Oscar couldn’t be missing. He was such a good dog.
“Will you look out for him?” Javi asked. Del nodded very, very hard.
“We’ll find him!” she said. And she really meant it.
“I’m good at finding things,” Alma said, and Del remembered the time Alma found her missing stuffed rabbit, Tammy. She could find anything. Alma had moved to Twenty-Third Avenue at the perfect time.
They said goodbye to Cora and Javi and walked all the way up the four flights of stairs to the fifth-floor apartment. Del had decorated it just for Alma, with orange flowers, since orange was Alma’s favorite color, and drawings of Alma’s old home, and a photograph of the whole family together last Christmas.
“Your new home!” Del said.
“I can’t believe I live here now,” Alma said. She was smiling and frowning at the same time. Del didn’t know that was possible.
“Don’t worry,” Del said. “I’ll help you fit in.”
“I don’t fit in?” Alma asked. She looked worried, but Del knew there was nothing to worry about. 86 ½ Twenty-Third Avenue was the most wonderful place to live. It was festive and fun and filled with family all the time. She’d get Alma excited about all of it.
“You will!” Del said.
3Tuesday’s Last Customer
-Alma-
“When a customer comes in, always offer them gofio first,” Del said. She had been giving Alma lots of instructions about working at the Curious Cousins Secondhand Shoppe. And about their city. And about their family.
Alma listened while she practiced drawing Del’s eyes and mouth and nose. She wanted to get her cousin’s face exactly right.
“What’s gofio?” Alma asked, wishing she already knew.
“Candy made from ground corn!” Evie said, handing Alma an orange roll of paper. Inside was a sugary sweet powder that Alma emptied into her mouth. Evie was always underfoot. Sometimes Alma thought she was alone with Del or with her parents or just with herself, and Evie would pop up to tell her a fact or a joke or to ask for the hundredth time if Alma would play with her.
This time Alma was happy Evie had popped up to tell her something.
“Don’t you love it?” Del asked. Alma nodded. It was a new taste and texture. It made her mouth dry. But she liked how sweet it was. And she loved that Abuelita made it herself. “Everyone loves Abuelita’s gofio,” Del said.
“I do too,” Alma said. “Maybe Abuelita will teach us how to make it.”
“Great idea!” Del said. “Then when we’re grown up we can run a candy store together!”
“With a pet store attached!” Alma added.
“It can have orange walls,” Del said.
“I don’t like orange,” Evie said.
“Alma loves orange,” Del said, and Alma thrilled at having a best friend who knew her so well. At the lake, no one ever remembered Alma’s favorite color.
“You should try to like purple instead,” Evie said. Del smiled. Alma smiled too. Then they both laughed. “What’s so funny?” Evie asked. “Purple’s not funny! It’s pretty!”
Alma was laughing so hard that she didn’t notice when a final customer snuck in before they turned the sign from Open to Closed. And when Alma did finally notice, she forgot to offer her gofio.
“Welcome to Curious Cousins!” Del said while Alma stood there forgetting. “Would you like some gofio?”
Tuesday’s last customer nodded and took an orange paper cone filled with the candy.
“Welcome to Curious Cousins!” Alma finally said, a little too late. She was trying her hardest to be like Del, but it wasn’t easy. Alma knew how to swim in the lake and how to help her mother shovel her long driveway and the name of every kid in her class and all the state capitals. But she wasn’t sure she knew how to be a part of her new life and her new family.
“I love your clocks,” Tuesday’s last customer said. The clocks were Alma’s favorite part of the store too. They chirped and rang. They clanged and chimed. They made Alma smile.
So did Tuesday’s last customer.
Tuesday’s last customer had on a long silver skirt and a rainbow-colored sweater that looked a little like a cape. Dangling from her ears were enormous jangly earrings. They were gold on top and crystal on the bottom, and they looked like chandeliers. Her hair was in three long braids that almost reached her knees.
“She looks magical,” Del whispered. Since Alma had arrived two days before, Del had listed at least two dozen magical things. The tree down the block that hung so low over the sidewalk the girls
