It started out in shades of blue and then settled into colour, a chest-up portrait of a handsome black witch. My dad lost his whole spouse, you know, that’s different, that’s a whole other thing.”Īs he spoke, he twiddled his finger in the air, and a shimmering little image appeared. There’s pictures in the house, so I don’t even know how much of their face in my head is actually my memory. “I think it’s worse for dad than it is for me I was so little I just have… a couple images, a little bit of their voice. She hadn’t heard the word ‘nen’ before, but context made it clear enough, and sympathy was so much more important than asking after specifics. Dumb way to die, right? Just hit their head, and they were out.” I was only four, so I just remember- bits and pieces. “And if Luz was ten, she remembers him, too.
“It meant we got a good few more years with him than we would have if he’d gone when it first set in.” He wasn’t meeting her eyes, but she didn’t really expect him to. “Sickness must be the worst,” he said, surprising her. “And it’s awful, but Luz is a strong girl, and I’m here for her too. “It happens sometimes,” she said, much more responsibly than she ever felt. He shifted a little in his seat, and she didn’t want to leave him alone to process, so she sat by him- just around the corner of the table, so she could face him, but not across where they’d be separated. Gus nodded slowly, cupping the mug in both hands, breathing in the steam. He was sick for a long time before that, though.” “Four years,” she said, fetching the kettle to pour water over his teabag, looking at what she was doing instead of at him. “How long ago?” he asked, and she swallowed. She opened her mouth to try and make some small talk, but Gus spoke first.
She hadn’t seen any of her cousins since she was… what, thirteen? It was a big pot, for seven people she hadn’t cooked in such big batches regularly since she was a little girl surrounded by cousins. He sat there playing with the tag on the teabag as she put a kettle on and started a pot of oatmeal.
Super mom cartoons free#
She installed Gus at the kitchen table, a mug in front of him and the box of teabags free for him to peruse- she quietly hoped he’d pick a herb tea, because she felt a little guilty giving a thirteen-year-old caffeine, but he didn’t and she knew she was being a little over-protective so she didn’t protest. “Let’s have some tea,” she said, and he followed her to the kitchen. He was just a kid, even if he was tall for his age, his hands too big for his body like a puppy’s paws, and she put hers over his and patted it. He nodded again, slower this time, and put his hand on her arm, gently. In her peripheral vision, she saw Gus’s eyes widen briefly. “Manuel, but no one called him that except one aunt and his driver’s license. In it, he was beaming, a crinkle at the corner of his mouth, that one crooked tooth she’d played with in their kisses. “Manny,” Camila said, her eyes sliding off Gus and back to the photo. “What’s his name?” he asked, after a moment. Gus nodded, clearly adding this information to his mental Human Scrapbook. “Humans can be raised all kinds of ways, but to make one you need good old fashioned parents.” “We can’t, we can’t,” Camila said, laughing a little at his earnestness. “Well, no,” Gus said, “but some demons can, so I thought maybe humans could too?” “I thought she might have budded off you! You do look a lot alike.” “Well, where did you think she came from?” she teased, to redirect. She didn’t want to make him imagine losing a parent. It never came smoothly, and telling a kid was even harder. School administrators asking to speak to the father, the auto repair man, strangers in the park making small talk. It had been years, but Camila had never exactly gotten used to telling people her husband was dead. She was glad she’d been the one to take it, now. Manny flanked her, beaming Camila remembered taking the picture. The photo was from Luz’s third birthday, her little cheeks puffed out like balloons as she blew out her candles.
“Who’s in the picture? That’s baby Luz, right?” There wasn’t the overlay of disbelief that Amity and Hunter always had, like her actually caring about them was inherently suspicious he was just genuinely and innocently happy to see her. Gus could be counted on to do that- to look at her like she’d made his day by being there. He didn’t look up right away, and she’d got halfway across the room before he noticed she was there. When Camila came downstairs to start breakfast, Gus was already up, standing in the living room and staring at a photo on the wall.
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