Page 47 of Girl in the Water

Chapter Eight

Carmen

“Should we take her down?” Carmen looked at her daughter sleeping peacefully in the crib at long last after an endless, fussy night.

The full humidity of the rain forest filled the room, while city sounds—cars, busses, shouting vendors—filtered in from outside.

Phil cast a bleary-eyed look of disbelief from across their small room at See-Love-Aid’s Manaus facility for abandoned girls. “Do. Not. Wake her up.”

Carmen checked the crib, the mattress covered with a snug sheet, the baby sprawled on top. The room was too warm for a blanket. A mosquito net hung from a hook in the ceiling, tied to the corners of the crib. No way could it cover the baby’s face.

“All right,” she said. “I’ll just go and grab something and bring it up. You can stay down, if you want.”

Phil yawned, then pushed his fingers through hair that no longer stood up in spikes. He’d begun thinning on top. And still as sexy as ever, Carmen thought.

“I’m going to park myself next to the coffeepot and stick by it until it’s empty,” he said as he shuffled out of the room, scratching a fresh bug bite on the back of his arm.

Carmen followed behind him, leaving the door open a crack.

Heather was coming down the hallway—a petite brunette wearing a sarong made of a colorful local print—balancing two plates of eggs in one hand, two coffees in the other. Heather and Hannah, sisters from Oregon, were part of the permanent staff. They shared a room two doors down from Carmen and Phil.

“Lila is sleeping,” Carmen told the woman. “Would you mind keeping an ear open for her?”

Heather smiled. “You go have breakfast. If that precious little girl fusses, I’ll pick her up. It’s a treat. You want me to sit with her?”

“You go have breakfast with Hannah. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

She felt comfortable leaving Lila with Heather. Other volunteers were in their rooms too. Carmen knew that if Lila cried, half a dozen people would jump to make sure the baby was okay.

Lila was See-Aid-Love’s first baby in residence. All the staff, the volunteers, and even the girls they took care of, were in love with her and spoiled her rotten. When the baby wasn’t napping, she was passed from hand to hand and cooed to, sung to, rocked, danced with.

Carmen followed Phil down to the cafeteria, a sprawling room filled with tables and chairs, breakfast passed out through a window that connected the space to the kitchen. Carmen accepted a plate with thanks, then grabbed a cup of coffee.

Out back, girls were having a basketball game, from the sounds of it. Thepat, pat, patof the ball filtered in, along with the occasional wild cheering. They must all be out there; the cafeteria held only adults: most of the permanent staff and all the volunteers who weren’t upstairs.

But then some girls did come in, four of them, carrying a small sisal mat and heading straight for Carmen and Phil.

Rafaela, Gabriela, Camila, and Luiza. Carmen had been memorizing the names. They wore Salvation Army T-shirts decorated with the logos of US sports teams, and looked like typical American high school kids. Except their noses were not in fancy phones.

“For Baby Lila.” The oldest girl, Camila, presented Carmen with the mat, woven in intricate patterns, a jungle scene with lianas and birds.

“Oh wow. This is so beautiful.” The design’s lines were all exact and tightly woven, not something Carmen could do in a million years. “You guys are real artists. I’m going to hang this above the crib.”

The girls looked at each other and giggled.

“It’s not a picture,” Luiza said with the exaggerated patience teenagers had for adults. “It’s a changing mat for the baby.”

“No way. It’s way too nice to mess up. I’m going to treasure this. Thank you, girls.”

Since Carmen had her hands full with breakfast, Phil took the mat. “I’ll bring it up in a minute.”

They both thanked the girls again, then Carmen headed up, listening for Lila as she plodded up the stairs. So far, so good. The baby wasn’t screaming.

The hallway too, when Carmen reached it, was quiet.

She walked into their room silently, not wanting to wake her daughter, hoping to eat her breakfast in peace.

The crib stood empty. Oh well, Lilahadwoken up, then. Maybe that wasn’t a bad thing. If she stayed awake during the day, she might sleep a little more tonight.