Maria repeated herself, talking slower.
“What is she asking you?” Carmelita said. “I can understand some of what she is saying, but it is a very tough dialect to understand.”
Sin took Maria by the hand and led her back to the couch. “She wants to know why I speak her language. She said there aren’t many people outside of her native area of her country that can understand her people, so how can I?”
“Good question,” her father said. “I was about to ask the same thing.”
“The mission is classified, so I’m not at liberty to say much, but I spent quite a bit of time in the mountains of Nicaragua. In order to do my job proficiently, I had to learn the dialect.”
Sin could tell by her father’s expression that he wasn’t quite convinced of her explanation, but he didn’t push it.
“Can I help you with dinner, Carmelita?”
“No, mi hija,” Carmelita smiled. “You relax and spend some time with Maria.”
After dinner, Sin asked if she could take Maria for a walk on the beach.
“Just be careful,” Carmelita said. “She is afraid of the water.”
Sin took Maria by the hand and they headed down to the sand. They walked down by the water, but Maria would not get too close. Sin picked up a smooth rock and skimmed it off the water. She saw Maria’s eyes open wide as she squealed in delight.
Sin found another rock and explained to Maria how to throw it. She did, but it just plopped into the ocean.
“That happens all the time when you are first learning,” Sin told her. She picked a few more rocks and walked Maria a bit closer to where the waves were washing up on shore. Standing behind her, Sin took hold of her arm and showed her the proper motion in order to get the stone to skip.
Maria bit her lower lip and scrunched her nose as she reared back and let the rock fly. It wasn’t much of a throw, but it made a tiny blip on the water before settling beneath the waves.
Maria jumped up and down, clapping her hands with pride. For the next twenty minutes, Sin handed her stones and Maria skimmed them like a champ. So intent in her activity, she didn’t realize she had stepped closer to the water with each throw. When she finally looked down at her legs, she was ankle deep in water, and she began to tremble.
Sin squatted in front of her, held her tight, and told her that she was fine. That there was nothing to be scared of.
Maria whimpered and said that bad things happen in the ocean.
“What kinds of bad things?” Sin asked.
“Girls like me are found dead in the ocean,” Maria answered.
Sin squeezed her tight in a long, protective embrace—neither wanting to let go first.
Sin clutched Maria’s hand as they walked toward the house. “Can I ask you something, Maria?”
Marie just looked up at Sin and nodded.
“Do you know how you got here?”
Again, Maria nodded.
“Do your mommy and daddy know where you are?”
Marie told Sin that her parents were dead. Killed by bad men in her country.
Sin stopped walking and again squatted in front of the little girl. “What kind of bad men?”
Tears filled Maria’s eyes. “Very bad men.”
Sin wiped the tears. “Did you see these bad men kill your parents?”
Maria nodded and told Sin how men used to make her parents pay money or they would punish them. “One night, they came,” Maria said, “but my father did not have the money. My parents hid me and told me to stay quiet. I heard my mother cry and my father scream, but I stayed quiet like I was told.”
Sin listened in horror to the rest of the story, hugging her tight.
“I promise no one will ever hurt you,” Sin whispered in her ear as she whimpered.
Sin held her until she had no tears left, and then picked Maria up and carried the sleepy child back to the house.
Thomas and Carmelita were waiting on the porch when they came into view. Sin placed her finger to her mouth. “She is sleeping,” she mouthed.
Carmelita went to take Maria from her arms, but Sin shook her head and said that she would put Maria to bed.
As she placed her in her bed, Maria’s eyes opened slightly. “Promise?” she sighed.
“Sí, mi belleza (yes, my beauty).”
Maria smiled and with a peacefulness that comes with trust, closed her eyes, and fell into a deep sleep.
Sin could practically feel the tension as she walked down the stairs into the family room.
Carmelita and her father were staring at her with anticipation.
“Well?” Thomas asked.
“Well, what,” Sin answered.
“Don’t be coy,” Carmelita said. “What happened on your walk? How did Maria’s feet get wet?”
Sin breathed a sigh of relief when she realized what had everyone worried.
“I showed Maria how to skim a stone across the water. She kept getting closer and closer to the water as she continued to skip the rocks. Before she knew it, she was ankle deep in the water.”
Carmelita’s hand went to her mouth and her deep brown eyes opened wide. “What did she do when she realized she was in the ocean?”
“She was frightened, but I held her until she began to relax,” Sin answered.
“Unbelievable,” Thomas said. “We’ve tried everything to get her over her fear, and you do it in one day.”
Sin poured herself a cup of coffee. “Don’t get your hopes too high, she is still very afraid, and it will probably be harder to distract her next time.” She took a sip of the Cuban brew. “But little by little, she will get over her fears.”
Sin thought about the things Maria told her. It will be a miracle if she loses her fear of the ocean.
Sin’s father soon became tired and Carmelita walked him upstairs to lie down.
Sin walked out on the back deck and lit a cigarette. She smoked the cigarette down to the filter before flicking it over the balcony. Using her binoculars, Sin looked
