Her feet were cold. Their shoes had gotten wet in the rain and the redheaded woman, Mrs. Kuhl, had insisted they leave them outside. At first the woman had not wanted Natalia and her mother to come into the apartment, but after her mother had explained that she hadn’t been able to find a babysitter on such short notice, she had relented. Now Mrs. Kuhl had disappeared into another a room. Classical music mingled with the sound of running water and the clinking of dishes. It was a big apartment: Natalia counted four doorways before the hallway seemed to disappear into shadow. She suspected it would be hours before her mother was done cleaning.

She had hoped she would be allowed to watch television. She liked it best when there were pets to play around with. Swishing her legs back and forth Natalia ruffled through her backpack wishing she had borrowed a book from the school library to bring along with her. Even though she was in second grade, the school librarian let her borrow fifth-grade reading level chapter books.

“Que llueva, que llueva la vieja esta en la cueva…” she sang softly to herself. Natalia closed her eyes and tried to remember the rest of the nursery rhyme. “It’s pouring, it’s pouring…” She didn’t know the rest of the English rhyme either.

“Ayúdame un poco.”

Her mother handed her a roll of paper towels along with Pledge and Windex bottles while looking down the hall to make sure Mrs. Kuhl had not come out. She gently pushed her daughter into the living room before heading back to the kitchen.

Natalia quickly set to wiping surfaces, memorizing where items were so she could put them back. She neatly piled copies of the New Yorker, Us Weekly, and the New York Times on top of one another. She sprayed the glass coffee table with Windex making sure not to leave any streaks. She admired the fancy dresses that Mrs. Kuhl wore in her photographs. Her mother owned one flowery wrap-around dress that she wore every Sunday to church.

Once she was done, Natalia walked over to the window and looked out on to the New York City skyline. It was still early but it was already getting dark and all the buildings twinkled like stars. She wished she didn’t have to go to work with her mother after school.

On the windowsill she saw a tiny herd of elephants made of different stones. Her mother always said elephants brought a bit of luck. She counted twelve all together. At the end of the line there was a green baby elephant, which had toppled on its side. Natalia picked it up; it was no wider than a quarter. On closer inspection she saw that one of its legs had a chip in it which was why it couldn’t stand up very well. She imagined the other elephants walking on and leaving it behind.

“I’ll take care of you,” she whispered to the elephant before putting it in her pocket.

“Rapido nena,” her mother said coming back into the room with a vacuum.

Natalia took her hand out of her pocket and nodded at her mother who was already walking back to the kitchen. She turned on the machine and, grunting, pushed it across the carpeted floor, twisting it this way and that way to get to the corners and underneath the furniture. These fancy apartments always had the heaviest vacuums; she could already feel the sweat start to form under her armpits. She hoped that not all of the rooms were carpeted.

Suddenly her vacuum lost power. Confused she turned around and saw Mrs. Kuhl standing by the outlet and holding the power chord.

“Where’s your mother?”

Natalia pointed to the kitchen. She followed the woman and saw that her mother was cleaning the oven.

“I’m sorry I’m going to have to ask you to leave, I don’t feel comfortable having your child clean my house.”

“It’s ok,” said Natalia, thinking she really didn’t mind it.

But Mrs. Kuhl didn’t listen.

They had to wait outside by the door as the woman went to look for her wallet. Her shoes seemed colder, wetter now.

“I’m sorry,” she said giving her mother a hug in the elevator.

“It’s ok, nena,” her mother said, showing her the money the lady had given them.

Glad to be going home, Natalia put her hand in her pocket and rubbed her lucky elephant.

Truth

Untruth

We Don't Know and TheyWon't Tell Us

We Don't Know and They
Won't Tell Us